Road to Dawn
by Fatal Crest
Summary: My original story of what went on during the journey of Mickey and Riku - Under construction/being remade. I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS/DISNEY STUFF. *hearts* :P
1. Breaking Through Twilight

**I'm keeping almost everything in this chapter as-is… FOR NOW… I think.**

**I'm changing the little note thing, as you can tell, because I found Rhia's to be… not as funny as she was probably aiming for? XD**

**Again… I'm in danger of death for doing this so BE GRATEFUL. D;**

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It was dark and cold as the lonely girl wandered through the maze of dark trails. She didn't know how she got there, and she could not remember what was before. Though something told her that she didn't want to remember.

"_Fade…… Fade into everlasting darknessssss……….."_ a voice told her. _"Let your heart sink slowly into the darkness….. become me!"_

She quickly shook the thoughts out of her mind. She wasn't going that easily. She'd need a better bribe for that.

Up ahead a ways, she saw two figures with the same dark cloak on that she had found when she'd awoken. She slowly and quietly stepped up a few feet behind them to hear them talking. She noticed that one was very much shorter and had round objects on his head. The other boy was taller than her, but only by a little bit.

"No." he said. "The road to dawn." He started walking, the smaller figure casting him a proud glance.

She looked at the man that they had been talking to. He gave a sort of glaring grin in her wake. "And you?" he asked, causing the other two to turn and look.

She stood thinking a minute. "Whut, you going to stop me from walking forward if I don't answer?" she sighed. "How the heck should I know… I don't even know how I got here….."

The small figure looked at her closely for a minute. He then turned to the other boy. "What 'ya say, Riku?" He asked in an overly squeaky voice. "Why don't we take her with us…..? She's trapped in the darkness like you were, you can tell by her eyes."

'_Ouch…. What's wrong with my eyes?!_' she thought to herself. The boy, Riku, shrugged.

"I don't mind, your highness…. I mean, Mickey." He said. He rubbed the back of his head. "She can if she wants." He murmured, looking her over from the corner of his eye.

"Then I'll go with you I guess…" she said. She began walking, but the taller man put his hand on her shoulder.

"This road is long and treacherous, the faint of heart have no business in crossing."

"Then I'll just have to give it my best shot." She retorted, shrugging out of his grip.

The man smirked and slowly disappeared, a creepy chuckle echoing inside of her head as he did.

"Welcome to the group then!" The smaller figure said, letting down his hood, revealing mouse ears.

"Ni-nice to meet you……" she said, a bit awkwardly. "I take it you're royalty?" she did a small curtsy.

The mouse chuckled lightly. "Aw, ya don't hafta be formal, we're all in the same boat here. I'm Mickey Mouse, King of Disney Castle! You can call me Mickey."

The other boy gave a little bit of a smile. "I'm Riku…… just Riku….." he said.

"Hi, Mickey, Riku. I'm…….. uhm….. I'm………." She finally looked at them both, scratching her head and grinning. "I can't remember my name!"

Everyone was quiet a minute before they all began laughing out loud. It was Mickey who finally spoke up. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember eventually. But, What are we going to call you then?"

She thought for a minute, "Well," she said, beginning to walk up to them more. "How about Allira? I think I used to know someone named that…."

Mickey nodded. "It might be a strong memory for you, you should hold onto all your memories."

She nodded. Even though it sounded pretty corny, part of her figured he knew more about where they were than she did.

Riku eyed her suspiciously once more. "So…. You don't remember anything about where you're from or who you are?"

She caught this and smirked right on back. "Nope. Why, you think I'm out to get you guys or something?"

"Oh no, of course not…. I just find it sort of convenient that you've been following us and now you've given an excuse to stay."

"Who's making up excuses? How is it my fault that I landed on the ground with nothing but some stupid voice?"

Mickey was looking worriedly between the two younger beings, then he looked at her funny. "A voice? What kind of voice?" Riku asked, as if he almost already knew.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "It was just this weird voice that kept telling me about following the darkness, all the power and stuff……." She trailed off a second. "But whatever. It doesn't matter, it's just me going crazy."

They both looked at each other worriedly. The king looked at her, smiling. He held out his hand. "You don't have to worry. If you're with us, then the darkness won't be able to get to you as easily, You'll see!"

She looked at his hand, in a way, it seemed to glow with a sort of light. The near glow of it seemed to spread out, growing and teeming around them, as if it was inviting her in. She was nearly on the path now, it was only about a step away. She looked back to his hand, and part of her wanted to run away from the light, back into the dark. Part of her wanted to listen to the soothing, deep voice that called her into the path leading towards the dark sky. Another part of her wanted to smile and run to the path that lead towards the rising sun, so light and happy looking, but in her own heart, she knew that it was her destiny to take the path in the middle, with the King of light, and the darker prince. She stepped forward onto the path and into his light, taking his hand.

"Let's go."

The mouse king smiled, leading her forwards. Her body started to feel torn here, as if it was splitting, but as she got nearer the other boy, she felt much different. The two opposing parts of her body, her darkness and her light as she would later figure out, started coming back together. Blending and mixing into something beautiful and powerful. He kept hold of her hand, a fairly tight grip for such a small fella, **[****xD sorry. [I don't see anything overly funny… *sighs, continues editing***]**]** and he then grabbed Riku's hand as well.

The boy looked as if he was about to protest, but he kept quiet. The three of them slowly made their way down the path, it twisted and turned in different places at some parts, soon leading them deeper into the darker area.

Mickey looked up at the sky and frowned. "I guess we should make a camp for the night…. Riku, Allira, why don't we start finding sticks? We ought to have a fire…."

Riku nodded, starting to walk in one direction, since he was let go of. The king still kept hold of her hand though, giving her a worried glance. "Be careful, the darkness is stronger here. Don't let it steal your heart away, and be careful of shadows." With that, he let go and ran off to go find firewood.

"Be careful of shadows…?" she murmured to herself. "What does he mean by that I wonder….." she sighed and went in yet another direction to go look.

She soon had a small bundle of sticks, near a small group of trees, a small ways off of the path on the darker side. She decided that rather than taking the winding path back, she'd cut across the grass in the darkness. Not her smartest idea ever, but at least it was fast.

After a few minutes of walking, she felt somewhat uneasy. She felt as if someone was following her, so she quickly turned around. She didn't see anything at first, besides shadows, which led to her thinking. 'Hey, there's nothing here to make a shadow.' Then came the thought 'Hey wait a sec, that one has yellow eyes…. So do those!' Then her mind strayed back to what the king said about shadows, that's when she noticed that they were moving towards her….

"Aw shit…" she muttered, just before they stood up and began pouncing. She let out a loud scream. "King Mickey!!!! Riku!!!!!!"

She struggled a bit, feeling herself get pulled into the ground, as if being sucked in by darkness. Then, just eyes her eyes were growing dark, a near blinding light appeared and she was left standing up again, a large key-type thing in her hands. The hilt was mainly black, the handle also consisting of brown. There was a small bit of reddish metal on which a black heart was imprinted. The blade's metal was a near-sparkling silver with impressions of one heart and one tear drop around the middle on either side. The teeth were two halves of a broken heart, one was a dark, crimson sort of purple, the other was a light and pure pink color.

Even more shadows began gathering around now, where there was one before, there were now seven or so replacing it. There were a good three dozen of them now attempting to tackle her down. She took a swing at one row and they disappeared back into the darkness.

After a few seconds, she felt something fly just over her head, and then Mickey appeared in front of her. He swiped away at them as if he **[was Yoda!!!! …….. sorry. xD **[… Okay, that's funny. XD]** ]** had been doing it all his life. Riku came after him and stood beside her. They both tag teamed a larger group together, her and Riku. Soon enough, all the dark creatures were destroyed and they stood, panting.

Allira looked up, soon noticing that her two new companions also held the key-like objects. Riku was eyeing her again, as if he thought her to be the godmother of insanity. King Mickey just smiled.

He finally let out a high-pitched chuckle. "I knew it, by the look in your eyes it was fairly easy to tell that you were a keyblade wielder, as well as a vessel of darkness."

Riku sighed. "And here I thought you were meaning she was completely under the control of Xehanort…"

The King simply chuckled again. "I would have done something to tell you if that was what I meant."

"U-uhm….. your majesty…? What are you two talking about exactly??" She asked, pretty confused at this point.

He smiled at her. "We'll tell you tomorrow…. But for now, let's go back to camp and sleep. I brought food too." He started walking away.

Riku gave her an apologetic look and shrugged before following. She soon followed suit, thinking about everything that had happened. Her whole life had just changed, she soon realized. And it would never be the same again.

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**As I said, I left many things as they once were… but I added details and changed a lot of errors. XD Next chapter will have to be completely rewritten…. *sobs***

**Oh well… until then. ;-;**


	2. The Truth about her Name

**Hi again guys. ^-^ I know it's a bit early, but I'm getting this one up too! [I'm sure some ppl love me for this….] even though no one's really reviewed much or anything xD I'm very happy to say that I will definitely be making this a nice, most probably continual Fanfict. I've decided to try to make it from the view point of Allira, just to see how that works out. Now, Disclaimer time! I find that most ppl like Keyblades-United© disclaimers…. xD**

**Xyushu: Hi**

**Rhia: He's such a downer. ._.**

**Allira: lol**

**Vatirix: what the hell am I doing here…….?**

**Rhia: ello vat. xD **

**Allira: Rhia owns the plot or the story [somewhat] and she owns me and any other ocs. Xyushu is a friend of hers, as with Vatirix. ^-^**

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I woke up early in the morning, unable to keep my eyes closed any longer. King Mickey had convinced me that it was better to wait to hear all the information, but that just made it worse for me. I didn't get to bed for a good long time after they had finally went to rest, and when I went under myself I couldn't get the dark taunting to stop. I looked around as my eyes open to see none other than Riku staring at me from a good few feet away.

I smirked up at him. "I'm guessing you can hear them too, am I right?" I asked, sitting up.

He nodded, smirking as well. "I'm better at ignoring them than you though, you've been mumbling about the darkness for the past hour or so that I've been up."

"Well, not all of us are as radiantly wonderful as you, you'll have to forgive us lowly types." I said, grinning.

He sighed. "You have a weird sense of humor…. Is sarcasm something that you like, or are all of the people in your world like this?"

At first, I really had no clue what he meant. Did he mean we were in a different world? No way, that's crazy. "What do you mean by that? I shouldn't live to far away……" I said.

I tried to remember a name- any name- that would be able to hint at where I lived. It couldn't really be that far. I just remembered falling and being on a trail.

He simply smiled and stood up, looking at the still dark sky. We both stayed there for a while, could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours, for the sky never moved. Soon, The king was awake as well. His sleep went undisturbed by the voices that plagued Riku and I. He smiled at us knowingly. He turned towards me, "I suppose I owe you an explanation….." he said, and he told me the story. He told me about all the worlds, the Keyblades, and the heartless and nobodies. He put in details about some of his own adventures, and then he told me of Sora and Riku.

The boy smiled as the King talked of him and his friends. He smirked over at me. "Surprised yet?"

I sat thinking for a few minutes, nodding. "It's a lot to take in…." I murmured. Then I turned back to the king. "Do you know what could have happened to my world, sir?"

He looked solemn and shook his head. "I'm afraid not. If you just showed up here like that, then anything could have happened. It might not be there anymore….. I'm sorry."

I nodded sadly. "It's okay. But…. What do I do now…..?" I said, slowly feeling a wicked chill creep over me.

The voice began sounding again, much more inviting than last time. _"Your world is lost now, but you can reclaim it through the power of darkness! Harness the power and take your place as one of the strongest of beings! I can help you find him……"_

'_Him…?_' I thought to myself. My eyes were clouding and I could no longer see well. I felt my heart lurch as memories rapidly started flowing back. Dozens of pictures of people, boys and girls, even animals. All having fun together in a beautiful place in a countryside. There was swimming and playing video games, and Ice skating too!

And in all the images, there was always a girl. A young figure with hair a mixture of dirty blonde and brunette. She wore normally dark colors and always seemed to have the most fun out of everyone else, even the people that seemed to resent her.

My whole body seemed to be pushed backwards as the memories flowed in. Then, I realized, I was being moved. I slowly opened an eye and saw Mickey standing next to me with a very upset look on his face. Riku was on my other side, looking distressed as well.

I quickly sat up, then wincing as pain started surging throughout my body. "W-what happened…?" I murmured to partially myself.

The King quickly smiled at me. "I'm not really sure, your eyes just went dark and you collapsed-"

"Why don't you tell us more about you now." Riku nearly demanded.

"How would you know what just happened to me…..?"

"Mickey just said it, Your eyes grew darker and you collapsed. Admit it Allira, you just heard Xemnas telling you to join him, and you almost gave in." As he spoke, my head began drooping, not because I was thinking, but because I was ashamed. He was right.

The king looked between the two of us, sending a look at Riku that was very unbecoming of his usually kind disposition. "Riku, you should cut her some slack…." He started, though was cut off yet again.

"He's right sir…" I said, the King looking at me in near shock. "I did almost give myself to the darkness…. He says he can help me…… maybe it would be okay, just to talk to him……… All I want is to save him…." Although, at this point I wasn't exactly sure who 'him' was. I just knew that people needed me, and the darkness could give me the power to help them.

I felt myself slowly sink as the darkness around me began to grow. Then, I felt something take hold of my hand. The grasp was gentle, yet firm. And there was a sort of light, but not quite as pure as the king's. This light had a small taste of darkness in it, and I believed in its glow more than any pure light. "The darkness doesn't have all the power you think." Riku said, slowly dragging me back out, "It has power, and it can be useful, the ability to go through the shadows….. But Xemnas only wants you because he needs you to do his bidding. I've been in his head before, I know what he's trying to offer you. You want to be able to save your home……" I saw some of the images again, dancing around with his voice, as though he was trying to use them in a slideshow, "But we both have Keyblades for a reason. We can control both the darkness and the light, and that makes us strong enough to help who we care about.

I felt a small tug on my body and was left standing up and facing Riku. I looked around me, noticing we were no longer on the trail. He grinned somewhat and let go of my hand. "See what you did now? We're both trapped!" He laughed.

I gave him a classic 'Are you nuts?!' look. "What are you laughing about if we're stuck!? Where are we anyway……?" I said looking around more. I saw that we were on a large platform with and image too big for me to actually be able to tell what it is. I wondered to the edge and looked down, seeing nothing but darkness for the eternity that it went down. I then looked up to find the exact same. I heard footsteps coming up beside me and saw Riku do the same. "What is this place?"

"_The first step towards your journey."_ I didn't really hear the words, but they more or less sounded into my mind. From the look on Riku's face, I could tell that he had also heard. _"Turn around."_

We both did a 180 spin and looked at the center. There was a large door, appearing to have almost two separate parts. On the left, A large door Made of black wood with purple trim and dark green thorn designs; On the right, a mirror image of the other half, only it was made from pure white wood, gold trim, and had red rose designs.

"_The door to your destinies is still shut, caught in between the light and the darkness. Only you can decide your own fates."_

"I think the door is crazy……" I whispered to Riku.

He chuckled a little bit, walking over towards it. He touched the handle of the lighter door and started trying to pull. 'Trying' being the key word. "It….. Won't….. Open!!!!!" he muttered.

"_It takes time to reach the truth, and only when you truly know yourselves can you be ready to open the door."_ There was then a blinding flash of light and We were standing in an unfamiliar terrace. Riku stared around wide eyed, especially as people began to appear. **[I'm feeling lazy so I'm just putting Riku through the same thing Sora did with Waka, that one boy, and that chick with the jump rope. xD]**

"_Choose carefully….."_

Riku walked up to each of them, they asked weird questions and the voice sounded again.

"_Let us take you to a more familiar place…."_ It said, and there was more light and we were standing on a deck overlooking a small lake. People began to appear here as well, all three of them I had seen in the pictures that had run through my head earlier. One of Them was shorter then I was and her eyes gleamed like stars as they were a bright blue against dark brown hair. She smiled at me, like she knew me inside and out. Her voice was childish, yet you could still tell that she was in her first year of high school.

"What do you do more in your spare time?" she asked, even though something told me that the real her would know the answer. "Do you play with dolls, eat cherry-lemonade ice-cream, or hang out at the mall?"

I almost laughed. "We don't even have a mall……" I muttered off handedly, remembering the small-town scenes that I saw. "I don't even like dolls….. so I'd have to say that we'd always hang out here at the lake and eat cherry-lemonade ice-cream!!"

She grinned. "You do remember!" she said, slowly beginning to fade. A sad look came on her face, and she reached out to me. I reached back but she disappeared before our hands met.

I turned around and saw Riku giving me a funny look. "I thought you couldn't even remember your own name!"

"It's all coming back to me." I said, grinning lightly. I saw another girl then; she was about three inches taller than me with red-brown hair and dark hazel eyes. She grinned.

"Hiya, it took you long enough."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to forget you guys. Will you forgive me, Alice?"

"Of course I will, silly! Just try not to get yourself killed by those things. Oh, I need to ask the question! Okay, besides me and Anny, who else did you hang out with?"

I thought for a minute, I wasn't exactly sure about names, but I figured I could try. "There was Mitchael…. We called him Mitchy. He was tall and has Dark Raven colored hair and light green eyes! And then there was Sara! She had Spiky brown hair and her eyes were light blue…. Then Kori……. Kori had red had dark red hair and purple-ish blue eyes……………"I murmured slowly, Hearing Riku stir uneasily behind me.

She smiled sadly and disappeared as Annabeth had, leaving me to turn around to find Mitchael.

"Hi." He said bluntly, letting a soft smile form on his lips. "Last question. What's your real name?"

I gasped as the realization hit me like a bomb. "I'm Rika….."

He smirked and there was another sudden flash of light, leaving me and Riku on another platform. Riku stared at me as if he was seeing his twin for the first time, and there was some truth to that.

"_Memories are made to hide what we wish not to know. Your existence here will not be so easily accepted, Rika."_

"What does that mean!? I belong in my home! SEND ME BACK!!! I WANT TO SAVE KORI!!"

"_Not everything is so easy. You two will be the ones who will open the door….." _A small flickering light began to glow then, in the middle of the platform. It swirled and began to grow somewhat, as if it were trying to lure us towards it. Riku stepped up first, beckoning for me to follow.

I stepped up beside him and we walked together towards the light.

"_It has been said many times already, though as the saying goes. The closer you are to the light……"_

"The greater you're shadow becomes." Riku sighed, looking over his shoulder, as if expecting something to pop out of the ground. **[Hmmm, I wonder what that would be…. xD]**

"_But remember…. The closer you get to darkness, the more you need the light."_ And with that, I blacked out.

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**lol, PLOT TWIST!!!!! I have officially decided to mix to plot ideas together, just so I can further confuse everyone! Isn't that nice? xD**

**Rika: I don't think its nice…..**

**Riku: Me either…..**

**Rhia: You two'll live. xD Everything so far that might confuse you guys gets explained next chapter! KINGDOM HEARTS IS GOING EXTRA SCI-FI!!!!! Though, I'm still making the other series. xD I'm just using this to test it out and see if everyone likes my plan for my next Fanfict, I'll start writing it in another chapter or so. ^-^**

im….?_HiHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_


	3. The New Day is Coming

**HI!!!! ME AGAIN! xD It took me a while to get this one to come out right. But I'm positive that I atleast tried to do this to the best of my ability. It gets confusing….. but I'm sure you all can find some good in it…. =3 Anyways, I was listening to a lot of music throughout making these, I'm listening to 'I'm Yours' by Jason Moraz as I type this intro and- NOOO it just ended…. T-T xD **

**ANYWAY I hope that everyone's enjoying this, I only like, JUST got the first one out there to you and I had 20 ppl who liked it. xD Being totally truthful, more ppl have read it than I originally thought, and I thank everyone. ^-^ **

**~DISCLAMIER**

**Rhia: I dun own Kingdom Hearts or any of the music I listened to throughout the makings of this Fanfict.**

**Rika: She does own me (scary…), Anny, Alice, Mitchy, Sara, and Kori! **

**Riku: She also owns a portion of the plot.**

**Sora: MY TURN!!!!!**

**Kairi: Sora, we're not even in yet…. ._.**

**[new borders too. ^-^]**

I woke up minutes later, sitting up slowly. The first thing I saw was Riku talking to King Mickey. They were both in different outfits. **[The ones they wore in the kh:com game.]** I was still in the cloak that I had on when I got here.

"I'm glad to see you're both okay, though." King Mickey said, turning to me, as though he knew I had already woken up. Riku nodded. "How are you feeling, Allira?" he asked. A quick glance from Riku told me that he hadn't said anything to the King about my actual name.

"I'm fine!" I said, trying to sound happy under the intense pressure of his good mood. "But what are we doing now? Are we just going to keep walking?"

The King smiled again. "No, we're taking a gummi ship now." He said, walking towards some bushes. Riku helped me up, speaking in a low tone.

"We need to talk later, King Mickey says that we all have separate rooms on his ship, so I'll come get you when the time is right."

I nodded and let him walk ahead of me. Something in his voice made me feel somewhat uneasy, as if I had done something wrong. I could feel his inner darkness pulsing somewhat, growing and shrinking, as if he was fighting with himself. I began to wonder whether he could feel my darkness too.

I walked on through the bushes and saw the King walk into the middle of a swirling green circle. He beckoned quickly for us to follow.

As I stepped onto it, I felt replenished, as though something were healing me before my eyes. I looked down onto my hands and found that they were lightly glowing a greenish color. I watched in awe as the feeling crept around my body, healing my scratches from last night, and even making me feel more energetic.

The King chuckled. "Ya get used to it after awhile."

I nodded, as did Riku, who wore his own look of confusion. "Your Majesty, where are we going to go when we leave?"

Suddenly, we were in some sort of machine-filled room, the sounds of metal clanking was nearly deafening as we walked through into a smaller room with a ladder.

"Don't forget to take off your shoes!" a very small, squeaky voice sounded, though I could not quite tell exactly where from. She obediently took off her shoes, come to find out that she was actually wearing more than her cloak.

"I'm wearing jeans…." She murmured to herself. She then set her shoes next to Riku and the Kings and they began climbing up the ladder.

King Mickey ran over and jumped into the front seat, quickly messing with the controls for a few minutes, then turning towards us. "Ya oughta get in your seats fellas…." The engine roared to life and we started moving….. REALLY fast. Lucky as I am, When I was pushed back I went directly into my seat. Riku nearly missed his and had to reach out with a hand as he flew by to grab it.

"shit-" he grunted as he went flying and caught his chair, Mickey didn't seem to have heard, I laughed as he swung himself into his chair and buckled up.

"Problems?" I asked innocently. He smirked as we started to slow down again.

"Why no, no problems here, Allira……. You having any problems?"

"No, no problems here, buddy."

"Glad to see you guys are getting along now at least….. We can walk around now." The King said, jumping down from his chair. "I'll show you your rooms now, stay close, it's a big ship!" he said jokingly.

Riku and I looked at each other before quickly getting up and following.

**XxX**

Later, I was sitting alone in my room, trying on the new clothes that had magically been in my closet for me. **[Gotta love the magic dressers man =D]** I was now wearing a pair of pajamas, A light sky-blue long sleeved top and darker blue pants with moons and stars on them.

I sat on my bed, wondering if I should just go to sleep or remain waiting for Riku, when I heard a soft, yet firm knock on my door. I walked over and opened it to find him standing in my doorway in a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

"Kay, time to talk." he said, inviting himself in. I smirked and shut the door quietly.

"Sure you won't get in trouble for waltzing into my room?" I asked taking a seat on my bed, Riku sitting on a chair opposite of me.

"Trouble or no trouble, this is important. Sora would think the same of Sara, and Kairi….." he paused a second, trying to emphasize the situation, "would wonder about Kori. Rika, this is not something to take lightly."

It took a second before the realization hit me, but when it came, I felt like I was hit by a train. "Sara…. Kori…… Sora….. Kairi?! Are you saying that we're clones?! Who the heck would want to clone you?!?" **[lol, had to put that in there. xD God, she's quick to jump to conclusions……]**

He looked like he was going to make a smart remark for a second, but he just leaned back and chuckled. "I wonder….. Anyway, We're not clones."

"How would you know?"

"Because, there's no way any clone of mine would be as random or anything as you."

"HAHAHA, I think I just burst a vain from how funny you are….. talk about ME being sarcastic Riku."

"We then, I guess we'll just have to figure this out for ourselves then? Can't you remember ANYTHING about where you lived?"

I thought for a moment. "Kinda…. It was a small little town, there were always flowers in bloom, except in winter. In winter, the lake would always freeze over…… Sara always used to get Kori and me to go ice skating with her……….. I love ice skating. In the fall we'd all whine and complain about school, but I know that Sara and Kori secretly liked it. They both always had classes together!"

"That definitely sounds like Sora and Kairi….." he sighed.

"In the spring….. uhmmm….. In the spring we'd go around to help plant flowers to get money so we could do more during the summer. And during the summer, we used to go play on the closed off island area across the river…… And there was the secret tree….." my voice wandered off then as I remembered. The secret tree was a huge tree in the middle of the island that had roots connecting it to the other side of the small stream on all sides. It was old and hollow on the inside, we carved drawings into the old wood and we had an in-tree tree house that we could climb up to.

Riku raised an eyebrow, seeming to know what I was talking about. "Sounds like The Islands alright…." He said, telling me about his own home. I was hung on every word, laughing at how much alike Sara and Sora were, they even had the same little pose. And while Riku and I were about the same height, Sara and Sora were both also shorter than both of us. It was weird, but it somehow felt right, knowing that there were people almost exactly like us.

"Now…." Riku said, finishing his own story. "We need to figure out why we're so similar. We can count clones out of the picture, I'm sure….."

I almost laughed at the impossible seriousness in his eyes. "So what else could I be, I'm obviously my own person." I said, eyeing him in my usual 'I'm better than everyone' tone, "I guess I'm not a clone of yours then."

He smiled at me, using the same tone I was. "We do have a lot in common though, even you must admit that. _Rika_."

We both sat there for a while, eyeing each other, as if we were testing something between the two of us. After a few long minutes though, my door was opened once again. We both turned our heads in surprise to find King Mickey walking in. A grin adorned his face and he shook his head a little. "I hope Ya know, it's a lot easier to keep secrets when you don't talk so loud, Riku, Rika."

Oops.

XxX

After a while of explaining, mostly on my part beings that I was the one in question in the conversation, The King stood leaning against the wall. He lightly tapped his foot, thinking, when he suddenly stopped and his eyes flew open. He then motioned for us to follow him and he started running down the hall towards the control room.

Once there, he jumped into his chair and quickly started typing things into the computer. Riku and I simply stood there, blank expressions on our faces, while we waited for the Kings idea on what's going on.

He then began reading the words that slowly came up on the screen that was automatically scrolling at a good pace, one would imagine that it was customized to meet His Majesty's own reading ability. After a time, it stopped and the king bowed his head down. He then turned his chair and looked at us, from one to the other.

"Tell me, Rika…" he said, looking at me with a new expression on his face, "What do you know about the universe…. And dimensions?" **[Ya'll knew it was coming, and yes I know, I'm horrible at explaining the part of the plot. Dx but it can't be helped, I don't think the next chapter will suck, just stay with me on this.]**

Riku and I, though we didn't quite notice, both raised an eyebrow and tilted our heads. "I dunno…. Isn't that stuff….. not real?" I asked.

The King chuckled lightly, trying to cover it up with his hand, though it didn't work too well. Riku and I turned to face each other, then quickly jumped back as we saw the looks that our faces shared.

"Your Majesty," Riku said, looking at him, still somewhat confused, "What are you trying to say? That we're the same person? That's crazy! We look nothing alike!"

He shook his head. "You don't technically have to look alike. And its proof enough that you both have such similar names, as with the same friends…" he said calmly. He pulled up another file on his computer, my face suddenly showing up along with the faces of Sara and….

"Kori!" I said, taking a step toward the screen. The King nodded, pulling up more files, and showing the face of Riku and two others that looked almost exactly like my own friends. "This is insane! Are you saying that we're just mirrors!?"

The King shook his head. "You're not Riku's mirror, you and him are one in the same, You both live the same life. Of course you're not a mirror though…" he said, his voice trailing off.

I turned around and started to leave, but I was quickly stopped by Riku. He had grabbed my hand as I started walking away, and we were now looking at each other thoughtfully. I could tell we had the same expression, for I could see myself reflected in his eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, almost teasingly.

I almost grinned. "I'm going to go stare at the other, other me in the mirror, maybe ask them what they think about the situation."

The King smiled sadly, obviously noticing that I was only taking it half as well as I was letting on. "Maybe we should all get some rest….." he said. Walking ahead of us. "Night, Riku, Rika."

We silently watched him go, and I slowly sat on the floor. I was fairly close to a mental breakdown at this point, and I took a few deep breathes. A shaky sigh slowly escaped my lips as I stared at the floor. This was the point, though a while after I should have, that I realized that Riku was sitting there with me.

He was still holding my hand, his other arm was draped carefully around my shoulders. I took a small peek out of the corner of my eye to find him looking at me through the corner of his eye as well. I quickly looked away, a light blush appearing on my face.

He chuckled softly and patted my shoulder, "Even though we're one in the same, I'm still more in control than you."

"Then why are you blushing to then?" I laughed. We were then both laughing softly for a while. '_this is wrong…._' I thought to myself, '_I shouldn't be here…… I shouldn't be with him… I shouldn't be feeling so comfortable…_' I started feeling guilty about it, about being here and not looking for Kori. It was, after all, as I could remember, my fault that he was gone. We were going to go traveling, walking outside the valley, looking for new places. We were to meet at the small island playground, but I had called to the darkness. I wanted the power to be able to take care of Kori and Sara, but I ended up separating us all.

"You blame yourself for what happened too, don't you Rika…" Riku stated, probably able to guess what I was thinking. I nodded slowly. "I feel that way a lot too….. Like if I hadn't appealed to the darkness, hadn't tried to take that power, we wouldn't have gotten into this mess…… But it probably would have happened at some point. The darkness was already on its way when I called out to it. It would have come no matter what."

I nodded as he told me this, figuring he was trying to lessen the blow. "Yeah…. Maybe. But either way, There must have been something, _anything_ that I could have done…. I could have tried to overcome the darkness, and now Sara and Kori are wandering around without me… Sara's probably leading a whole military of people to try and find me outside of town….." I said.

He smiled. "No…. Sara's probably doing exactly what Sora did. She's probably wandering around other worlds right now, searching for Kori and you both…. Because, if Kori is anything like Kairi… he would already have lost his heart and he's waiting for you to find him, to help Sara find her way to him….." he said, suddenly getting up and running towards the controls.

"What are you doing…?" I asked, getting up and following him.

"We have to go after Kori!" Riku said, looking at me like I was an idiot.

"What?! I thought Sara was supposed to save him?!"

"Don't you see? If I hadn't found Kairi and shown her to Sora, then Kairi might never have been found!" He said, starting to punch in some commands. "I'll be willing to bet anything that it's the same on your end!"

As we continued arguing. King Mickey turned around the corner, a triumphant smile gracing his face, and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He came up beside Riku and also started putting in commands to the controls.

Riku looked at him in surprise for a short few seconds before rejoining him.

"I'm glad you think so too, Riku!" he said, in his over enthusiastic high pitched voice. "Where would we look?"

As the two of them discussed the place in which he had found Kairi, they both came up with the same conclusion: They needed to go to Rika's dimension.

**Yayz! Another chapter of The Road to Dawn is finished! I hope that everyone who read the first chapter do try to come back… xD I can't believe how hard it was to write this chapter, but I'll keep going! ^-^**

**~ Happy Inauguration day!!!! ~**


	4. Midnight Tears

**Ello, I'm back again… =P I just finished watching the Presidential Inauguration and I have to say that I'm more than pleased with America's choice. xD I think President Obama is a great guy and I hope he has a good first term. His daughters were so adorable! =3 **

**Not many people have been noted to have read the second Fanfict…. [1 person total right now…] and I don't really blame anyone if they don't like it, It doesn't make much sense so far… BUT I SHALL CONTINUE TO WRITE!!! I WON'T GIVE UP ON THE PUBLIC!!!!!! xD**

**~*~ Disclaimer ~*~**

**Rhia: If I owned Kingdom hearts…..**

**Xyushu: You'd go away?**

**Rhia: no**

**Rika: I'd be a free girl?**

**Rhia: nope**

**Riku: You'd stop talking to yourself?**

**Rhia: No way, I'm too fun!**

**Mickey: You'd be really rich and would make a movie out of us?**

**Rhia: Thank you, Mouse Man!!!! Sadly, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, so there's no movie yet…. ._. **

"We need to get to your universe…." King Mickey said, the three of us sitting in our chairs and facing each other.

I nodded. "Yes, but how do we do that…?"

"I'm running a scan with the computer; it should tell us where a soft spot is…. The pathway that let you here might still be there…"

As this was said, a low beeping sounded from the monitor's direction and the King turned around, watching the screen intently as objects started popping up. I looked over to Riku, who simply shrugged in response.

"What does that mean?" I asked, my voice hushed to a whisper.

"I dunno, I think it found something…" he said, just as quietly.

A big round thing was now visible out the window, as she found out that that was the auto pilot that was beeping.

"Oh no…… no no no no no no……" Riku groaned, slinking down in his chair. "Not there first……" He almost begged as The King turned in his chair.

"Sorry Riku, but we need to stop here for supplies, Princess Bell is forgiving enough……"

"It's not her that I'm worried about your majesty!! Beast is likely to want to rip my face off after what I've done!!!"

"I'm sure that they will both be able to listen to me, he may not seem it, but he still has understanding."

Riku clutched the arm of his seat in a death grip, growling silently. He stared at the floor, looking as if he wanted to strangle something. He then shook his head though, clearing away the dangerous thoughts. "Fine…" he murmured, standing up and walking towards his bedroom.

"Riku! We're going to land soon! Riku!!!" I said, quickly getting up from the safety of my chair to go and follow him.

I ran quickly down the hall, following him through his door. I was barely in the door when I heard King Mickey yell "Heads up!!!" and the ship shook, causing me to fall over. Lucky as I am, Riku was already waiting for me to fall and caught me in his open arms. I looked up to see him grinning down at me, causing me to look back down and blush against his chest. I felt a small chuckle rumble deep in his body as he held me a little closer, causing my face to grow somewhat hot.

The King's voice soon sounded over the intercom system. "You guys should be getting some sleep now! We have about 8 hours before we should probably head in, night you two!" he said.

After a few minutes, Riku stepped back and looked at me curiously. I looked back, my expression blank, but still kind. He smirked lightly. "Better get some sleep! Wouldn't want to ruin your first day in a new world." He said, plopping onto his bed with a low thump. He laid down, his arms behind his head as he grinned a bit at me.

I smiled back, mentally telling myself to hit him later, and started walking back to my own room. Once there, I closed the door and eyed the distance between the light switch and the bed. I then shut out the light and walked to my bed, extremely careful not to make noise, and laid down myself. I crawled under the covers and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

**XxX**

I woke up slowly, wondering what time it was, not quite opening my eyes yet. I unconsciously knew that someone was in the room with me and my eyes slowly came open to find Riku leaning against the wall, staring at me, already dressed.

"Morning." He said casually, as if I was in _his_ room looking at _him_.

"Hi….. Riku……" I said, not quite sure what to do.

"You'd better get dressed, His Majesty is making breakfast." He said, smiling a little. And I couldn't help but smile back. He quickly left the room to let me get dressed, shutting the door behind him.

I then got up and began rummaging through the dresser. I pulled out a pair of jean like material the seemed to contort itself for better movement, a white short sleeved shirt with red sleeves and a broken heart design, half black and half red. There was also a small collection of hair ribbons; I picked the black and white striped one, quickly brushing through my dirty blonde-brunette hair. I then noticed for the first time so far in the journey, the color of my eyes. It was almost weird; they were light brown with different swirls of topaz and emerald in them.

After getting ready, I quickly walked out to the hall to find Riku waiting for me. He turned and motioned for me to follow him down the hall that I'd never been able to go down as of yet, which seemed to lead towards the kitchen and two different bathrooms. We quickly ate breakfast together in the kitchen. [Mickey fixed us waffles] And we were quickly walking towards the castle where a small teacup and a woman were standing and waving. King Mickey walked up and nodded in respect. But the girl only seemed to see Riku at first, looking somewhat relieved. Riku bowed deeply, and signaled for me to follow suit.

The girl smiled sweetly and shook her head. "You guys don't need to bow to me…." She said, almost sad.

Riku looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry for intruding here….. is he going to allow me in? I'm perfectly fine with staying outside if he's not….."

Bell almost laughed. "Of course you can come in Riku! After his Majesty sent in that message and told us you all were coming, Beast was a little upset…….." she said, now beginning to grin, "But I think I got through to him. I know you only helped that witch capture me because you thought she could save Kairi. I don't blame you at all."

It was around then that the small teacup spoke up, much to my surprise. "We forgive you!"

Somewhat shocked, I blinked a few times and pointed. "Did that teacup just talk?"

Bell simply giggled. "This is Chip, he's one of the enchanted inhabitants of the castle. Oh, I've forgotten to introduce myself, I'm Bell, a princess of heart." She said, holding out her hand.

I took her and shook it. "Hello, I'm Rika! I'm a….. uhmmm…. Actually, I'm not all that special." I said rubbing the back of my head. Bell and I started laughing together, Riku chuckled.

"What do you know, Rika made a funny!"

I stuck my tongue out. "Least I have a sense of humor!"

Bell giggled lightly and turned to King Mickey. "Will you be leaving now then, Your Highness?"

He nodded. "Yes, I should get going…."

My jaw dropped. "You're leaving?"

He nodded again, this time to Riku and I. "Yeah, I won't be too long though, I should be back by morning!" he said, starting to walk off. "Be good guys, try not to fight too much!"

We silently watched him walk away, Bell soon turned and smiled though. "Come on you two, let's go inside." She said, turning around and walking towards the castle.

Chip jumped down from her shoulder and hopped towards me. I bent down and extended my hand to him, allowing him to jump onto it. "Hello Rika!"

I smiled and started walking. "Hello, chip isn't it?"

He nodded, which took his whole body to do it.

"It's nice to meet you, but I have to say that I've never really talked to a teacup before…." We both giggled. I sensed that Riku was coming up beside me and I smiled at him.

He smiled slightly back. "You make friends easier than I usually would….." he said.

I smirked. "That's because I'm a girl, and everyone knows that girls are much easier to get along with than boys."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

"We'll see about that…."

"I bet I'm right though."

"I bet I bet you do."

"I bet that you bet that I bet I do."

"Yes." He said, walking ahead of me slightly.

"W-wait….. what?" I said, causing Chip to giggle again. I walked ahead to where we were next to each other again. "What do you mean by that, Riku?"

He chuckled lightly. "Just say yes later, okay?" He said, then walking through the castle doors. I quickly followed after him and Bell, the door ominously shut behind us.

"Okay….." I said softly.

"I'll show you the gardens first….. Then we can eat lunch!" she said, gesturing for us to follow her.

And I didn't know if anyone else could tell, but as I looked up, I saw another figure. He was big, and hid in the shadows, though I could make out that he had fur. He was staring down cautiously at Riku and I, though the others were already walking ahead.

I was very much unlike most other girls. And as you would think, most girls would have probably done something along the lines of quickly walking away. I on the other hand, being very different, did something very different.

I smiled lightly at the larger figure and waved.

At first it seemed to flinch, like it thought I'd have run away, but then it started to walk slowly down the stair way. At this point, Bell and Riku had noticed that I'd stopped moving and were turning around to look at me.

"Morning master!!" Chip said from his spot in my hand as the figure came from the shadows.

He wasn't necessarily scary looking, but not the kind of guy you wanted to meet in a dark ally either. He walked up to me, slow and silent. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rika….." I said, not quite sure why he was already being hostile. Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that Bell was frowning. Riku simply looked curious, as if wondering whether or not I would get eaten.

The man simply grunted and turned towards Bell and Riku. He pulled his lips back in a silent snarl and was quickly by Bell's side.

She sighed lightly and smiled up at him. He nodded and we all started walking again, Riku lagging slightly behind with me and Chip.

"That was a little reckless……" Riku muttered to me once we were out of ear shot.

"I'm a little reckless, I figured that you would know that one already, Riku." I said teasingly.

He just smirked and Chip giggled, though I knew that Chip had no idea what we were talking about, he was just like any other little kid would be.

We soon arrived in the gardens, the aromas of all sorts of different flowers mingled everywhere. A fountain was in the center of the area we were in and birds were scattered amidst the flora. [smart words….. =P]

Bell pulled a small sack out of one of her pockets [lets all pretend she has pockets. xD] and held it out to Beast, as I now realized who he was. He quietly took a hand full and Bell turned towards us again. Chip jumped down from my hand and hopped over to the fountain.

I dipped my hands into the bag and pulled out a small handful of birdfeed. Riku slowly did the same and Bell gave us quick instructions on how to feed the birds.

I tiptoed over to some and slowly crouched down, extending my hands out to the small birds. Riku then came up beside me, slowly doing the same, mirroring my movements.

We grinned a bit at each other when I felt a small weight on my hand. I cautiously turned my head to find a small dove perched on it. It's beautiful pure white body glistened in the sunlight as it ate the food. I soon felt Riku cringe beside me.

As I looked over, I saw that a crow had jumped into his hands. It was dark and ragged looking, seeming like a dark shadow compared to the dove just inches away from it. Soon the birds were done eating and flew away.

Riku stood up and started walking deeper into the garden. I looked over at Bell, who gave me an understanding smile.

"He still has a little darkness surrounding his heart, and I guess that nature continues to remind him of it….." she murmured, "Why not go and talk to him?"

I nodded, walking in the direction that he did. I took a quick peek over at Beast, who I just walked past.

He was eyeing me curiously. "Be careful…. There are wolves." He said, his voice gruff, with small hints that he had to try hard not to sound too rude.

I smiled and nodded again, continuing on my way.

After a bit of walking, I turned a corner and came upon a small lake, because it seemed a little large to be a pond.

Riku was sitting on a rock, quietly skipping stones across the smooth water, causing large ripples to form and spread. I went down and sat beside him on the large rock, our arms almost touching. We both sat there for awhile, staring out into the distance.

"Soooo…….." I said, trying to break the silence. "The water's pretty….." I added. Riku broke out laughing and a hardly noticeable bit of color flew to my face, my head bending down. "That might have been a little random, but you don't need to laugh."

He continued for a few seconds before he spoke. "I know, I just can't believe you had to say something like that though…. How corny was that, really?"

I stuck my tongue out. "Least I'm not here to mope, what kind of a funny jerk are you?" I said teasingly.

"The best kind, what else?"

"So you think you're the best? At what?"

"Everything."

"Have fun with your dreams there Riku!"

He chuckled, turning his head towards me. "Don't be mean, Rika. I'm trying hard to be extra good today."

"Then I can be as mean as I want?"

"If you really want to put it like that…."

"I'll find someway to get back at you then…" I said, nudging him lightly.

He nudged back. "What did I do?"

"Last night! You laughed at me when I fell…."

"Least I caught you though, didn't I?"

I thought for a minute, swinging my legs. "I guess you did, but I still need to get back at you."

"Fine, long as you don't cause bodily harm, I guess I can't complain."

At the mention of 'bodily harm' I lightly punched him in the arm. "Too bad there, I'd already decided to hit you."

"Then I'll just have to do something back……" he said.

I giggled a little. Then I stood up. "We should probably get going, I really don't want to miss lunch!"

He got up as well, casually sliding an arm around me. "Heh, don't be so thrilled, it's not like It'll run away…. Least the actual food won't." he said, grinning and gently leading me down the path.

At first, I wasn't quite sure how to take the fact that Riku kept close to me like this, but I was slowly getting used to it.

**XxX**

He was right about the food.

It really was the only thing that couldn't move, as our group walked into the dining hall, the room was bustling with chairs and dining wear trying to get into position.

We had a wide assortment of food, and met a wide assortment of furniture. The one that stood out most though, had to have been the candlestick. When we first sat down at the table, he quickly slid down to Riku and I to take our order [With a very strong French accent!] and he also sang and danced.

Soon after, Bell told us about the night's main event.

"We're going to dance….?" I asked, pretty stupefied by the very idea.

"Yes, and don't worry, if you want, I have some dresses you can borrow…." She giggled.

"I'm not sure…. What if I break something I mean..?" though no matter what excuse I came up with, the ever persistent Bell finally tricked me into dancing. Riku chuckled lightly as I searched for the dumbest little excuses.

Soon after we were done eating, Bell gave us a very long tour of the castle, and the sun was soon beginning to set. She led me up to her room, leaving poor Riku in the hands of the French candlestick, whose name I never really caught. **[Can't….. spell….. name!!!!! T-T]**

We wandered up the stairs and down the long hall to her bedroom door. As we entered, a large dresser looked over at us.

"Oh Bell! Good evening!!! I've got lots of dresses to look at!!! And we have a young visitor!!! It's very nice to meet, you!"

"It's nice to meet you too!" I said, smiling.

"I think that you'll find these to your liking….." she said, and we got to work trying on dresses.

After around two hours of trying on and taking off and comparing, we finally found one that looked perfect to everyone.

"It looks gorgeous on you, dear!" the dresser said, waddling around to look at me.

My ball gown was truly somewhat complicated, at least to me. It was mostly red with a black stripe in the middle, bordered by yellow laces. A black bow adorned the back just above the hip, the rest of the back was open to reveal my bare skin. Black lace appeared on the collar and the end of both of the short sleeves, and long black gloves were also on my hands.

Bell was also dressed at this point, her hair done as well, and she had me sit down so she could do my shoulder length hair. In the end, she put it up in a pony tail and tied the ribbon so it draped over my hair, as opposed to under.

"I really like it!" I said, turning around in the mirror.

"It does look wonderful on you, Rika." Bell said happily.

"You ladies had better head down to the ballroom, I'd bet The Master and Mister Riku are already waiting." The dresser said.

I turned and curtsied to her. "Thank you again, for the dresses and everything."

"Oh, no problem, I'm happy you like this one! There's no way it would have fit on Bell, It's much too short!"

We both laughed as we exited the room, going down the stairs.

As we neared the end of the stairs, I looked up to see Riku smirking at me.

He wore a black tux and a black tie, a beautiful white rose poked out of his jacket pocket.

Bell and I stepped up to the two men, Beast smoothly bowed, holding out his hand to Bell. "Would you….. please…. Dance with me?" he asked her hesitantly, miscellaneous household items cheering him on.

Bell smiled and gently took his hand. "Yes, of course." She said, a tint of happiness in her voice.

I smiled as I watched them go, they were a beautiful couple. But then a small realization came to me, causing me to mentally kick myself. I had to dance with Riku.

I blushed lightly and turned to him. "You knew this would happen……" I murmured, partially to myself.

He chuckled, holding out his hand. "You said you'd say yes."

My face grew hotter. "I did, didn't I?" I said, putting my hand in his. He held it lightly and guided me into the ballroom where Bell was smiling at me encouragingly, no, she was smiling at Riku. "You were in on this too, weren't you?" I said smugly.

She giggled. "Yes, Riku might have mentioned it to me…"

Beast simply shrugged to me, making me sure that he wouldn't be here if Bell wasn't here with him. I nodded back in mute understanding, we were both caught in this evil web of dancing.

Somewhere, a waltz started, which pretty much killed me internally since I had no clue how to waltz. Riku seemed to though, and he carefully led me through the steps.

"Back on the island, my parents put me through dance lessons…." He said, almost embarrassed.

I giggled. "It's a good thing! I have no clue how to do this at all!"

We both laughed a little bit as he twirled me around, gently taking my hand as I stopped, and beginning to waltz again.

"You're not too bad." He said, half jokingly.

"Well, you're not either." I said.

We were silent for a few minutes, dancing around and staring into each others eyes. He smirked at me as we turned and twisted, causing me to blush and look away. He laughed again.

Soon, that music ended and another, slower song started. I looked over at Bell and Beast.

Beast seemed to know what he was doing with this song, he brought Bell closer to him, letting her lay her head against his chest.

While I watched this, Riku carefully put his right arm around my waist and his left arm went around my back and rested on my left shoulder. My hands subconsciously flew up to his chest as this happened and I turned my head up to him, now realizing how Riku was about a head taller than me, though I'd never really noticed before.

He smirked again down at me and we started swaying and turning around slowly, perfectly in time with the music.

"Relax Rika, I won't bite." He said smugly.

"You're a teenage boy, what makes you think I'll trust you?" I teased. He grinned.

"I can always torture you."

"I bet you'd try….."

He smiled. "You gamble way too often…"

"I put my pride in my good luck in most situations."

"Like when you fell over?"

"Like how you were there to catch me when I fell over."

He smiled more. "You don't really have good luck then, I'm fairly unhealthy."

"Well, I live a bad lifestyle, what can you do?"

He chuckled again, causing me to laugh as well.

As we continued dancing, I rested my forehead against his chest, allowing him to hold my body closer. "Want to go to the gardens for a minute? I think we should leave them alone…." He whispered after a while.

I nodded, letting him let go of me. We walked over to Bell and Beast, bowing.

"We're going to the garden." Riku said.

Bell smiled and nodded, showing that it was okay. Riku held out his hand to me again, I took it and let him lead me out.

Once we got outside, we sat on the edge of the fountain and talked about little things, like the moon and stars. It was soon time to go in, for the French candlestick, I came to find out that his name was Lumiere, came out to get us. Though I had a feeling that he had been watching us for most of the time.

Later, after I was dressed in a pair of pajamas and given a room, I wandered secretly out to the castle balcony. The cool Spring night breeze gently glided past me as I sat on the railing over looking the forest. The full moon's light glittered down and reflected beautifully on the small lake.

I sat silently for a few minutes, happy to have the fresh air after dancing earlier. I then made the mistake of looking directly down.

I slowly slipped down from my seat and backed up, right into Riku, who seemed to be behind me.

He laughed quietly as I immediately turned around to face him. "You needed fresh air too?"

I nodded. Some of my hair, which was down and behind my ears, fell onto my cheek. I blew away the hair and smiled. "Yep, fresh air."

He smiled back, walking over to the edge of the balcony. He looked down and whistled. "It is a long way down….. Wanna race?"

"Hahahahaha….. no." I said bluntly, causing him to laugh.

"Just kidding!" he said, turning and leaning against the railing. He then motioned for me to come over as well.

I came up next to him, sitting on the railing inches away from him.

"The moon's beautiful tonight…" I said, leaning back a little to stare at it's reflection in the water, also seeing small fireflies in the distance. "Wow…."

Riku got up and stood in front of me, holding out his hand. "Wanna go look?"

I took his hand. "Sure…"

We quickly walked quickly to the lake, wasting no time to get there. And when we arrived, it was breathe taking.

"Its beautiful…..!" I whispered, walking another step forwards. We stood there for a good, long set of moments, staring at the fireflies, until they soon left and the moon was somewhat lower in the sky.

"We should be heading back in…" he said slowly, as if trying to hold the moment out. I turned my head and nodded, noticing that we were still holding hands. He gently led the way back to the castle, and then to the hallway that both of our rooms were in.

For a long moment, we just stood staring at the floor. "Night…." I said, though it might have already been morning by then.

"Night, Rika…." He said, slowly stepping back, our hands slowly coming apart. Our fingertips touched and he lingered there, while I was not able to breathe. He smiled at me, turning and creating a small distance between us. He slightly turned his head towards me, just enough to where I couldn't see the whole side of his face. "Rika?"

"Yeah, Riku?" I asked quietly.

"No matter how much we might wish…. It'll never happen, you do know that?"

I smiled sadly. "Not like either of us will let a stupid little wall stop us…"

He chuckled, an ironic tone entering it. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He said, walking towards his room.

I opened my door, a tear already falling as I stepped in and shut it.

**o my gods this was a long chapter compared to the others… xD I couldn't find a decent place to end it, but I guess it's good that it has a length! Lol**

**Its 11:13 now, bed time, school sucks, even if its home school… except for choir. xD I might not get the next one up as quickly as this one, though…..**

**Night guys!!!! ~*~**


	5. Mishap in the morn

***face-desks* Epic fail with the new borders, sorry everyone. T-T**

**I really don't know how much longer this is going to be, though I promised it would be long… xD I already know how I'm going to end it, and I know the most of the not-so-sequel's story……**

**Maybe I should make a poll…….**

**And there will as of now be parts where the view point id from Riku's mind!!!! =P **

**I can't wait to break into his head…….**

**Riku: o-o**

**~*~ DISCLAIMER**

**Rhia: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any Disney stuff, I do own Rika and Kori and Sara!!!!!!**

**Xyushu: Wow, you did it all by yourself for once…..**

**Rhia: Shut up Airhead! _;;;**

**Vatirix: xD**

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

I walked into the room, tears threatening to spill down my face, I totally ignored my surrounding and sat on the bed.

"Don't worry dear, I'm sure it'll be okay…. What's wrong?" A voice asked. I turned to see Chip standing next to a tea pot, who seemed to have spoken.

"Oh… I'm sorry…." I said, wiping a tear from my face, "I didn't see you guys… It's nothing too important."

The old teapot smiled. "It doesn't quite seem like nothing to me."

I smiled. "I guess it probably doesn't… I'm just kind of arguing… with myself." It was the truth, I was arguing with myself. Me, myself, and Riku now as well.

Chip jumped up next to me, as did the teapot. "Rika, how can you argue with yourself…?" he asked.

Me and the pot both smiled. "Well Chip…" I said, trying to find the right way to describe it, "When you're arguing with yourself…… It's like if you really want something, but don't need it. Part of you wants it really badly, and you might feel like you need it……. But you also might not need it, and you argue with yourself over it."

He seemed to think for a minute. "I still don't get it Momma…." He said to the pot, starting to yawn.

The pot smiled more. "Alright then love, off to bed now."

"But I'm not—" he yawned, "Sleepy!"

I giggled. "You probably should go to bed, I'm about to too."

The two of them nodded, jumping down from the bed. "Goodnight deary." The pot said, shutting the door behind her. [Though I can't imagine how.]

I quietly blew out the candles and laid down in my bed, weariness suddenly creeping up on me. I shut my eyes, and then I heard the voices. "_Fade into darkness, I can give you the power to control all worlds_."

"_Unfortunately,_" I retorted, "_That's not the kind of thing I care about._"

"_Of course… You want to save Kori._"

"_Kori…?_"

"_You want to save him?_"

"_You're trying to trick me!_"

"_Am I really the one that you don't trust?_"

I suddenly saw flashes of Riku, but not memories of mine. I saw pictures of him fighting people, capturing the princesses, and hurting his friends. He looked dark and unforgiving, like the darkest of shadows had taken over him.

"_You're lying! Riku isn't like that anymore! He's a good person, he wouldn't hurt Bell or any of the other princesses!_"

"_Are you really sure? What do you, an outsider, know about him and his heart?_"

"_I know that he's my friend, and no matter what, I won't let any of my other friends be taken away from me!_"

I heard a maniacal laughter and Every thing was dark, darker that dark. I could see my hands when I looked down, but the rest of the world was desolate.

"Where am I?!" I asked, looking around frantically. A dark figure appeared in front of me, a smirk plainly visible on his dark skin. He let down his hood to reveal long white hair and golden eyes, eyes that pierced me through to my very soul.

"At last we meet." He said, his deep voice echoing.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly, "What kind of weird jerk hides in the dark?"

"Are you not afraid of the darkness?" he asked, grinning slightly.

"No….. I'm not afraid of the dark, why would I be?"

He laughed again, this time, a shiver went down my spine. I knew then that I'd answered badly, very, very, very badly.

**XxX**

**[First ever Riku POV!!! 8D]**

It was early morning when I woke up. I yawned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I still felt bad about what I said to her.

I got up and got dressed in my usual clothes, they were getting small now, and I'd have to buy new ones pretty soon. I still saw her sad face staring at me when I closed my eyes. I shook the image away though, opening the door to walk out of my room. I immediately felt the darkness

The sheer volume of it caused my Way to Dawn keyblade to appear, and it was all emanating from the balcony.

I did a mad rush to it, cursing myself on the way. I should have been able to feel it from the bedroom! I burst through the door leading to the balcony and immediately faltered.

"RIKA?!"

Her head turned partially to me, her maniacal smirk plainly visible. She turned all the way and slowly held out her hand. "Hello….. Riku." She said, her voice not her own.

"ANSEM! What did you do to Rika?!"

she smirked bigger, eyes twinkling, though cloudy with darkness. "Well, it wasn't easy, but in the end she came willingly. She truly has no fear of the darkness….. I pity her foolish affections towards you and the other boy."

I studied her body, as bad as that sounded even to myself. She wore black cargo pants with impressions of thorns curling around the legs. Her shirt was mostly red with black sleeves and a black heart, and he had noticed on her back when she was turned that there were small batwing designs on her shoulder blades.

I took a step forward, waving Way to Dawn threateningly. "Let her go. NOW."

She frowned slightly. "Now Riku, I'd be careful with that. Her body might be fragile…."

I cursed myself again, she'd still feel the pain, and I knew that better than anyone.

I'd just have to find another way to save her. I put Way to Dawn back, holding my arms at my side. "I said: LET, HER, GO."

She drew out her keyblade, apparently she was at least allowed to keep that part of her, and her figure smirked. "Poor, poor Riku, he can't seem to be able to hurt her…… And she will truly give herself up willingly when you are gone from existence. FACE OBLIVION!!!!" She ran towards me, though she was not as quick as she should have been. This slight hesitation gave me all the proof I needed that she was still in there.

I held out my arms. "I know you can here me Rika. Don't listen to him. He just wants your body!"** [omfg…. xD lol sorry guys…]**

She slowed down even more, eventually stopping a few feet away from where I was standing. "Damnit!" she cursed, "This weak girl, she's stopping!"

"I'm not weak…." She said, her voice sounding more her own now. "I'm just….. not strong… not like Sara…"

A shadowy figure appeared behind her. "Foolish girl! Get up and obey your darkness! Let the power engulf you! We will rule the worlds together!"

She stood up and turned to her side, her face full of pain. "I'm sorry… I can't…… I just can't…" she backed up, soon being right up against the railing. "I can't use the darkness like this, I'm sorry Riku!"

The cloaked figure smirked and turned towards her. He knew that he still had her under his control. "Don't worry, just let it flow through you. Let it use you as a tool."

"No!" I said, running over to her and placing my hands on her shoulders. "That's not me! You have to fight against him Rika! Listen! Don't use the darkness like this!!!"

She looked up, pain in fear visible on her face. "Ri…. Riku……?" she said, touching one of my hands with her own.

I smiled, able to feel the disbelief coming from the figure behind us, as well as the fact that he was disappearing. "I'm here Rika, don't worry… You'll be okay. The darkness is leaving now. We're safe."

She shook her head though. "No…. I'm not safe. I'm dangerous… I shouldn't be here with everyone, I should be home, doing his bidding for him Riku… It's all my fault…… I shouldn't be with you right now……"

"Rika, do you honestly believe that?" I said, lifting her head up so she looked me in the eyes.

She stood quiet for a minute. Then her voice finally came, shaky and unsure. "Yes…"

"Oh Rika, don't feel like that please…" Bell said from somewhere behind us. "You're so kind and gentle, I don't think you give yourself enough credit."

"B-Bell…?"

"Yes, I'm right here if you need me for anything! I'm glad to help a friend."

At this point, Rika had started crying, a small shaky sob coming from deep in her throat. I could tell that her eyes were still clouded with darkness, and she had fallen very far in very fast. And I knew that these tears weren't her own.

Stage two of turning over into the darkness was full of immense sadness and pain, and dealing with the uncertainty of being able to hold in all the power. She was crying, but it might not have been because she was sad.

"Princess Bell," I said, turning my head, "You should probably leave. She's still not herself and this might still turn into a fight." Bell nodded sadly and she and a few of the enchanted things left through the door, closing it behind them. I then turned back to Rika, who had started to grow a dark shroud around her. "Rika," I said calmly, "I want you to listen to me very carefully. Do you hear me?"

She nodded slightly, and I could tell she was trying to force herself to hear me. A good sign, at least, it would be worse if she didn't hear me at all.

"Okay, Ansem promised you something right? What did he promise you?"

She opened her mouth, seeming to struggle as she began to speak. "He wants…… me to… help him control the worlds and…… he'll help me save Kori and Riku…… Riku got lost too…… I need to help him Sara…"

At first I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. I wasn't lost anywhere, and my name was definitely not Sara, but sure, I could roll with that information. "Rika, Riku isn't lost. That wasn't Riku, that was Ansem. And he'll help you find Kori! I'm looking too! But you shouldn't rely on this power. It will end up hurting Kori."

She nodded slightly, I figured that in her own head this was all going a lot smoother. She probably really was thinking that she was talking to her friend Sara. I could remember being in my own little world when I was being controlled by Ansem.

"Okay Rika, now please let go of the darkness, okay? Try to block it with your light, got it?" I said, trying my hardest to sound like a teenage girl, and hoping this wasn't overkill.

Whatever it sounded like to her, she nodded again and closed her eyes, standing there for a few minutes. I could soon feel the flow of darkness around her grow weak until it was at our normal level, and I felt her grow limp. I loosened my grip on her somewhat to let her fall forward into me, and then I picked her up. She was extremely light, though she probably shouldn't have been, and her clothes that she was wearing turned back into her pajamas.

I walked over to the door and opened it to find Bell and the others waiting. The woman walked up quickly. "Is she going to be okay then?" I nodded and she sighed with relief. "That's wonderful… I'll go get her things, I'm sure she'll be needing them."

I nodded again. "I'll go wait outside, His Majesty should be back shortly…… I'm sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all, I just hope she can find her way out of the darkness like you have."

I smiled and started walking. 'I haven't found my way out though.' I thought. 'The sun hasn't really come up yet.'

I walked out the castle doors and sat on a bench, Rika rested on my lap. I could hear her breathing lightly and she was smiling somewhat. She looked utterly peaceful despite the situation, but she might not look that way for much longer.

A slight pain went through me at the thought of having to raise my sword against her if she turned to darkness for strength, though I knew I shouldn't have. We were both like the same person, it was wrong to feel so strongly about yourself, almost criminal. But, on the other hand, she wasn't me. And maybe that made almost as much difference as how much he couldn't seem to stay away from her. Bell soon brought out her things and said that we were welcomed back at any time. I told her that I would mention it to the king and she bid us a farewell.

She soon began to stir, her eyes fluttered open for a second, then they shot open and she stared up into my eyes for a while. "R-R-Riku….?"

I smirked, knowing what would happen next. "So, you woke up?"

She blushed lightly and looked away, trying to get back up. I decided not to let her though, keeping her cradled in my arms as I smirked.

"Y-yeah…. But why are you holding me…? I was sleeping…."

I smiled more, realizing that she had no clue what had happened. She probably thought it was just a bad dream. "The King is going to be here soon, I didn't want to wake you, so I carried you here." I lied, not wanting to explain the painful experience she had had.

"oh…" she said, staring up at me. Her soft multi-colored eyes searched my own, as if she were trying to see into my core.

A green point flashed not too far away, signaling that he had arrived. I stood up, still holding her, and nodded to the King who walked through the portal towards us. He gave me a quizzical look and I flashed him my answer with my own look, telling him that I would explain later. He nodded and picked up her stuff.

"I can walk Riku…" she said as I started walking.

I shook my head. "You feel way too light and your face keeps changing colors. I'm carrying you." I said, smirking.

Her face grew a little hot with anger. "I can walk by myself though! I don't need help…"

"Yeah, tell me that the next time you fall over."

She stuck out her tongue and I laughed, unable to help it. I grinned, feeling happier than I probably should have.

Was this how I was supposed to feel around myself? Or maybe, with a little luck, she was more than a copy. Maybe this trip would be bearable after all…

It's too bad we never made it to the ship.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

**Yep, epic cliff hanger, you ppl must love me. =P What happens next? Well, I have this evil idea that I'm sure I'll get shot for later. Cya later guys!!! =D**


	6. The Shadows Emerge

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! Hate me if you dare…. D

**Welcome to one of the remaining installments in the Way to Dawn series…. =3 I've decided to end it here in the next few chapters so there's going to be more information in the next story, so lets think of this series as more of a prologue to something bigger and better!**

**I hope that none of my poor abused characters try to kill me…**

**~*~ Disclaimer ~*~**

**Rika: I'm going to kill you…**

**Rhia: But I haven't even done anything to you in this chapter yet!!!**

**Rika: I'M GOING TO KILL YOU RHIA!!!! DON'T EVEN TRY THIS!!!!**

**Rhia: Too late! =P**

**King Mickey: Rhia doesn't own me or any other Disney or kh or final fantasy ppl. [Final fantasy people haven't even shown up yet though….] She does own this plot and her own characters though.**

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~ **

**[Back to Rika's POV. =P]**

I pouted to myself as Riku carried me back to the Gummi Ship. I then suddenly felt a strong feeling come over me, and I know he did as well, for he stopped walking.

"Riku, Rika… _Your Majesty_." The dark voice said, and I did all I could to keep myself calm as I turned my head and saw the horrible cloaked figure in front of us.

"Ansem…" Riku growled, his voice over flowing with the hatred of the man standing, smirking, before us.

The man chuckled, letting down his hood to reveal dark skin, evilly beautiful golden eyes, and snow-white hair. "No longer, I am Xemnas now, Riku." He said, his deep voice echoing in the otherwise peaceful courtyard.

Riku growled again, setting me down and stepping in front of me, drawing out Way to Dawn. "Go back to the hole you crawled out of, _XEMNAS_! We won't go with you! I won't let you touch Rika ever again, you psychotic bastard!"

The King sent Riku a quick disapproving glare, most likely for his choice of words, then set down my stuff and summoned his own keyblade. "You need to leave these kids alone!" he said, standing protectively in front of Riku and I, "They don't deserve to be pulled into the darkness!"

Xemnas smirked, drawing out to red sword-laser weapons. "Old fool, there will always be darkness in that boys heart. No amount of tutoring from you could ever change that! And the girl…" he said, sending a special smirk in my direction, "I could always use extra pawns."

At this, Riku lunged at him with mind numbing speed. Dancing with the cruel villain as they dodged and parried each other's blows. Heartless and other weird things soon started to appear around the king and I, keeping him from going to help Riku.

Adrenaline quickly coming to me from my sever need to get up and fight, I unsteadily, though still quickly, jumped up. My keyblade burst into my hand as I started doing mad swings at the numbers of dangerous beings trying to lunge for my chest. We both soon had the situation nearly controlled, and King Mickey darted over to help Riku.

I was slowly being overwhelmed, the adrenaline dissipating, when I heard a loud roar from the direction of the doors to the castle. A large brown blur came and ripped apart heartless from every direction around me. "Beast!" I said, quite happy that someone had come to land a hand.

He turned to me and grunted, showing that he heard me, and we began slicing away at the small beings once again. They soon vanished and Beast and I stood there, helplessly watching the fight that I dare not interfere in, because I didn't want to cause Riku or King Mickey to lose focus.

Suddenly something flashed red and Riku flew back, slamming into a wall. A loud thunk was heard and Riku sank to the ground.

"Riku!" I gasped, running up to him. "Are you okay…?" I asked, helping him sit back up and lean against the wall.

He coughed a little, trying to stand up again. "I-I'm fine… I just have to beat Xemnas… Before he tries to hurt you again."

I punched him in the arm gently. "You don't have to worry about me…" I said, but sadly, I was unable to finish my sentence.

"Rika!! Riku!! Behind you!!!" King Mickey said, but he was too late. I felt myself being grabbed and pulled into darkness, the last thing I saw, was my reflection in Riku's eyes.

"No!! Rika!!!"

XxX

**[Riku POV]**

I yelled out her name as She was pulled into the darkness by yet another cloaked figure. I reached out quickly; our hands brushing lightly as she finally disappeared into the darkness.

I was pissed now.

I turned towards Xemnas, lunging at him with all of my speed. He laughed maniacally and backed up into his own dark portal, drawing me in with him in my mad rush to kill him. King Mickey and Beast were able to follow as well before the portal closed itself.

"Xemnas!!!!" I yelled, my voice echoing in the corridors of darkness as I rushed him. He easily parried every one of my blows, smirking evilly all the while. Beast came up behind him and started swiping while The King joined my side.

Xemnas flew up into the air though, landing several feet away and entering yet another portal, leaving us stranded.

"UGGHHH!!!!" I yelled. Dropping to my knees pounding on the ground. "How could I let this happen?! She was right there and I still couldn't help her at all!"

The King patted my shoulder lightly. "It's not your fault Riku, you did your best…"

"But my best wasn't good enough!" I said, my voice nearly cracking, "If I was stronger… faster… I could've helped her…"

Beast suddenly came up in front of me and picked me up by my shirt. "Listen." he growled. My jaw immediately closed up and I stared at him. "It's not too late to save that girl! But I have to say that I agree with how pitiful you are! When you took Bell away from me, I promised myself that I would have done anything, ANYTHING, to get her back. And you plan on sitting here feeling sorry for yourself?! Who do you expect to save her then? Will you really give up and leave her to rot in the hands of that other man?!"

I bent my head down, letting myself take a deep breath. He was right. "No…" I mumbled, barely even to hear myself.

"What?" he said, pulling myself closer to him, our eyes on the same level, "I can't quite hear you."

"No." I said, a little louder, glaring at him.

"Louder!"

"No!"

"I just said LOUDER!!!"

"NO!!!!" I yelled. He smiled at me approvingly, setting me back down.

"Now lets go." he said.

We all turned, though I was the first to see the slumped over figure. "Kairi?!" I said, running over, though quickly noticing that it wasn't Kairi at all, but someone who looked like her…. "Kori!!!"

XxX

I had little to think about as I was being dragged through the darkness, for my mind was numb and void of all thoughts. But all of my emotions ran strong.

I felt anger towards the man who was now carrying me to an unknown destination; betrayal from the darkness that I had put my faith in before I began my journey; I was begging for the light, that I had not seen until it was almost to late, to forgive me; Sorrow that I might not be able to see my friends again, old and new; I felt a pang of hatred towards Xemnas, who I still thought might be able to help me find Kori, and that was also saddening to my subconscious; and love. I felt hope and love then as well, and that was almost as strong as my need to find my lost heart. My heart truly was almost lost, for now I had the realization that that was more than a nightmare. I really did almost hurt Riku, and for that I wanted to damn myself to the farthest depths of the darkness.

'I'm sorry…. Riku…'

XxX

I grabbed the younger boy who was slouched over on the ground before me, making him sit up. "Come on Kori, wake up…" I urged, able to feel the boy's heartbeat and knowing he should be able to stir.

After a few seconds, which was enough for the other two to be coming up as well, his eyes flickered open. "Who are you…" he asked uneasily, "Where's Sara and Rika?"

I smirked. "Heh, no clue where Sara is, but we might be able to help you with our little Rika."

He quickly jumped at the mention of their names, a small frown appearing on his face. "You know Rika? Where is she? She can help find Sara!"

Mickey chuckled, causing Kori to look over in there direction, which then led to a muffled gasping noise as his hand flew up to his mouth. Beast grinned at him, as if making sure to give the poor kid a heart attack, then spoke in a struggled kind voice. "Hello…"

Kori gulped, slowly putting his hand down from his mouth. "H-h-h-h-h-h-h-heh-heh-heh-hellllllloooooo…….." he said, all three of the rest of us laughed.

"Kori," The King said after a while, "We need to start explaining…" he said, and all of us sat down, getting ready to tell the story. And we all knew that the outcome wasn't going to be pretty, if things were left as they were….

After we had finished, Kori looked extremely thoughtful. "I figured this might happen…" he murmured. He then turned to me, "I can help you save her, I'm a prince of heart… That means I-"

"That means that your heart is pure and you have special powers in your heart that can open the doors to light and darkness."

"How did you know….?!"

"We already went through that crap… but that doesn't matter! We need to go now if we want to save Rika!!!" I said, getting up.

Everyone nodded, slowly getting up as well. I quickly opened up a portal into the darkness, being sure to follow the remaining traces of Xemnas' power. 'We're coming for you Rika, I'm on my way.'

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

**BWAHAHAHAHA SHORT CHAPTER!!!!! D**

**Sorry, but I couldn't drag this one on much longer, sorry guys. =P**

**I promise the next one will be longer, but if it's too long, it might end up being the last one. D I'm sorry, but I swear that the next one's going to be longer, like I said, this one was supposed to be short, in fact, I was thinking about it maybe only being 3-4 chapters long… xD **

**Well, I feel a little better knowing that a few people read my first kh fanfict to come here, but the numbers drastically decreased between chapter 1 and chapter 2, so I'm still not quite sure about my abilities as a writer. x.x**

**BYE EVERYBODY!!!! ^-^**


	7. A Shelter for her heart

Okay guys, heading into the final stretch! Things will get a tiny bit confusing here on in, so read carefully!!! This might be the last chapter, your guess is as good as mine for the moment, so we're kinda going to see the ending together! =P

**I may even surprise myself…**

**~*~ [Take a guess at what this is. xD] ~*~**

**Rika: Rhia doesn't own Kingdom hearts or Disney things, because this wouldn't be a fanfict if she did.**

**Rhia: For real…. ;~;**

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

I slowly stepped into the portal, quickly finding myself in a dark alleyway. As we all walked in silence, attempting to stay alert for any heartless, we eventually found ourselves in a larger area that was overlooked by a clock tower.

"Wow…" Kori muttered, obviously impressed by the buildings, and reminding me that he was from a much smaller town. At least, as far as he knew.

"What was it called Kori?" I asked absent mindedly, and when he gave me a confused look, I spoke again. "The place that you guys lived… What was your home world called?"

He was quiet for a while. "I'm not sure I remember…. But there were farms everywhere… almost everyone had one, and there weren't many people. It was just the eight of us who were kids: me, Sara, Rika, Annabeth, Alice, Mitch, and…." he trailed off, "I don't remember the others, but there weren't many kids there. And the kids' little island was on one of the farms."

I nodded. I'd already known about the people that he named and the smaller version of my own island, the only things I didn't know about were the other kids and the farms. "Thanks, that helps I guess." I said, walking ahead as we made it to a ledge. A large castle loomed in the distance, floating on thin air.

King Mickey stepped in front of me, taking a cautious step over the edge.

A small chunk of walkway then became visible, and we all continued walking in the general direction of the large castle.

XxX

I woke up in a purple room, sitting up slowly and carefully to make sure I wasn't badly injured or anything.

"W-where am I…?" I asked myself, my voice wavering, as if I had been crying. I looked around, trying to take in my surroundings, when I noticed the bars. 'Great,' I thought, 'I'm in a cage.'

I stood up and walked over to the barred off doorway, which actually went from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

"Hello?" I called out, wondering if anyone would hear me. And that was when I heard footsteps coming towards me.

"They picked the wrong guy for this…" a voice said. I quickly stuck my head between two bars, trying to get a better look. And the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the figure coming towards me, was David Bowie.

"E-excuse me…" I said, "Can you tell me where I am?"

He looked up and grinned, trying to be friendly as it seemed. "Oh, You're awake then! Would you like a drink? Some food or anything?"

I could almost guess that whoever this guy was, he was told to take care of me, and he seemed to enjoy this a little. "Yes please… could I have some soup? And a drink of water would be nice…"

He grinned at the last bit. "My pleasure!" he said, turning smoothly and picking up a cup that had been sitting on a table near my cell. He handed me the cup gently, and then flicked his hand. Water appeared out of thin air, flying around us before filling the cup. He winked. "Drink up, and don't worry, it's regular water."

I nodded slightly, the surprise still plain on my face as I took a sip. He grinned slightly and began walking away, though he turned and looked over his shoulder. "I'm getting superior, you stay here…." He said, obviously nervous about who he was bringing to see me. And I knew automatically that it was Xemnas.

I smiled at him, showing that I understood, and he grinned back sympathetically. "D-don't worry." I said, giving him the thumbs up. And he soon disappeared into a dark portal.

I sat back against the wall as I waited in silence for the disturbing, yet dreamy, man to come for me. I took another sip of water and stared into the distance, wondering what was to become of me, when I heard footsteps. I waited patiently, leaning my head against the cold metal of one of the bars as one part of the door opened, and he stepped in.

"Come," his voice said, a hand extending out to me, "I can get you out of here."

And I suddenly recognized the voice that was now calling me so soothingly out of my dark corner.

"Riku!" I breathed, not even really hearing myself say the name as I propelled myself into his waiting arms. I then looked up, suspicious. "How are you here….?"

He smirked, his sea-foam green eyes sparkling with worry and guilt. "I thought you'd at least miss me…."

I sighed and hugged him more. "Are you sure you're real though?" I asked, resting my forehead against his chest, and I now saw that he was in the cloak I had first seen him in again.

I could almost feel him smiling down at me, he held me closer and gently used a finger to lift my chin. I looked up at his eyes, my heart beating slightly faster. His eyes were changing color.

His figure changed before my eyes, a definite smirk adorning his lips as his skin darkened and his eyes burned gold with an unfeeling luster and he grew taller and his shoulders broader. I began to back up as his arm slid around my waist and pulled me back to him. "The heart….. It trusts so easily." He murmured, pulling me along now.

He led me through the halls, me being too shocked to put up a fight, and we soon walked through a set of doors into what looked like a bedroom. The doors made an eerie thud and clicked behind us, locking. He sat me on the bed beside him, using his voice that was both soothing and terrifying. "Come…. Give into the darkness. I can help you have everything you desire." He said, resting his other hand on one of my legs.

I turned my head away. I didn't have the energy to try to get away, or to even answer to him. I simply sat there as sorrow and pain engulfed my heart, which was beating abnormally fast. And then it hit me.

We were alone, in a room with a bed, door locked, and he was touching me…… all fairly bad signs.

I scooted away, trying to put some distance between us, but he held onto me. A smirk printed on his face, he chuckled. "You are a being of evil and hatred. We are one in the same….." he whispered in my ear, sending a shiver down the length of my spine, "Uninnocent people don't deserve their innocence." And he then pushed me onto the bed, his hand slowly slid up my shirt. I had already started crying and I closed my eyes, turning my head away. **[OMAIGAWSH RAPE!!!! .;;;; jk]**

Then the door flew open. I heard a loud yell and Xemnas was forced off of me. My eyes opened slightly to see Riku, who was in his clothes, and Xemnas fighting, Beast soon joined in and King Mickey was helping me up. "Are you okay Rika?" he asked.

I nodded, shaking with fear from what had almost happened. "Y-y-y-yeah…. I'm fine." I said, my expression was dazed. He nodded sympathetically and joined the fray, butting Riku out of it.

The slightly annoyed Riku turned and ran over to me. "Are you really okay…?" he said, his eyes clouded with worry as he neared me. I nodded, trying my hardest to smile, and he helped me stand up, though my legs were still shaky. He hurriedly picked me up bridal style, with hardly any effort, and started running out the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked dumbly, not really something I normally did.

He looked down and grinned. "Dummy, I'm getting you out of here! At least to a safer spot…" He said as more crashes sounded behind us. "Better go faster…" he murmured to himself and putting on more speed. We turned a few corners before he slowed down, He then came to a stop in a wide area. He set me down gently and turned, Way To Dawn flashing into his hand, and stood protectively. That's when I noticed the boy standing only feet away…..

"Kori?!" I said, getting up and smiling. "You're here?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I was back there….. but now I'm here. I wanted to help save you Rika!" he said. "Sara would kill me if you never came home."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah… she would. But I'm still taller than her." I grinned. Riku and Kori both chuckled

Then our laughter ceased to exist as the beast was throws against the wall and King Mickey fell from somewhere by the ceiling. I ran up by Riku, my keyblade forming in my hand. "Lonely Heart…" I said softly.

Riku grinned. "God… since when were you so depressing?"

I shrugged as Xemnas walked quietly around the corner. "Ever since he decided to screw with my life?"

"Heh, then we're both on the same page!" He said, rushing into a charge at Xemnas. King Mickey had quickly recovered along with Beast and they both started towards us.

Beast began attacking Xemnas, but Mickey kept running, even going past me. I turned my head to see what was going on and saw the partially familiar green portal, with a small set of keys near it. "Password coded? That's new…." I muttered, charging at Xemnas, even though a smart girl my age would have tried to keep her distance from a guy who almost raped her. [At least I assume that's what he was planning.] He had shaken off the others by the time I had charged him from behind and really wasn't expecting me or my good luck, have I ever mentioned how I pride myself on my luck?

Lonely Heart struck him in the back, causing him to step forward as I jumped into the air and started using combos on his back, possibly a painful thing. He then turned around when I landed back on the ground and used these light saber things to block my next set of attacks. We seemed to be dancing around the hall as we parried and hit each other, both of us getting injured in the process. Riku quickly joined my side and we began teaming him on either side.

"C'mon fellas!" The King called. Jumping up and down and pointing at the docking point. Kori ran in first, Beast soon following.

"Go Rika, I'll hold him off until you get through!" Riku said, blocking some attacks. I nodded, very disappointed, and ran into the green point, my health filling up and I felt much better. Mickey was already messing with the controls and muttering things to himself about Riku and his 'Tendencies to get carried away when fighting'. Riku exploded through the door and the ship started moving at a very fast space. I nearly rammed into Riku, which Kori did ram into him, but beast and Riku were lucky enough to have been standing next to chairs and quickly grabbed on.

We soon started slowing and we were able to walk again. And then everyone was starting to try and make me go to my room. After a fairly long argument, Riku came and picked me up. He carried me, kicking, screaming, and blushing, to my bed. After a few halls, I shut up and glared at the ceiling, not really able to talk to Riku. He soon sat me on my bed, sitting beside me. We were silent for a while before he finally spoke up. "I'm sorry." He murmured, sliding a hand through his hair.

I roll my eyes. "Don't even get me started…. I'm the one who should be begging for you not to hate me…." I said, feeling totally embarrassed, and almost ready to cry. "I almost attacked you…… and you still came to save me…"

He smiled, putting an arm around my shoulders. "Its no problem… I get attacked by something almost daily. I'm just happy I got there on time. I was worried that he was going to… kill you or something…"

I smiled back, hugging him. "Thank you… You saved me again… Riku." I said.

He gently picked me up and put me on his lap, hugging me close. We looked into each other's eyes, and before either of us knew what was happening, we were kissing.

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

**End of the second to last chapter! Isn't this exciting? Xemnas almost rapes Rika. [definitely not good.] Riku saves her…. THEY KISS!!!!**

**Rika: Imma gonna kill you…**

**Rhia: you say that a lot……..**

**Xyushu: I can't believe you typed that. Sick minded little---**

**Rhia: Be nice Xyushu! 3**

**Sora Delivar Riko: MEEEEEEEEEEP =3**

**Vatirix: MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP =3 [so thar STD] {[Rhia: inside joke. =P as far as we know, he doesn't. Don't think like that little nasties. xD]}**

**Sora Delivar Riko: Orly?**

**Vatirix: ya, RLY.**

**Sora Delivar Riko: MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP**

**Vatirix: BRING IT BITCH**

**Rhia: Guys……. ._.;;; stop fighting….. I'm scaring myself. =P**

**Mirazix: xD**


	8. Apart, and sadly forgotten

**OMG LAST CHAPTERRRRR!!! =D**

**Heh, fast series, but that just means the sequel will be out fast as well. I hope that this Fanfict was enjoyed, and I can't wait to see what happens next when I start on the sequel! [Even though I'm still wondering how in THE HELL I'm going to end this one…..]**

**Disclaimer:**

………**DO……………..NOT…………OOOOOWN!!! T-T**

**Okay, on with the finale….**

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

After the kiss ended a few seconds later, Riku gently set me back on my bed, laying me down and putting the covers over me.

I was more or less mute as he smiled lightly at me, concern and intrigue plainly visible in his eyes. "Good night, Rika….." he said, after a few minutes of us looking at each other, as he started turning for the door.

"W-wait Riku…" I said, quickly sitting up. He turned back around and walked towards me again, but I couldn't say anything else because I was too busy trying not to blush.

He smirked lightly, apparently in his usual mood again. "What, you scared that he'll come for you in your sleep?"

Though I was highly tempted to yell and throw things at him, I kept my restraint and nodded.

He smiled again and sat in the chair next to my bed. "I know exactly how you feel." He chuckled. "I still have the nightmares….. So I'll keep you company. We can be each other's light."

I smiled back and let myself lay down again. We sat in silence for a while before I was able to speak up again. "…. I'm going to have to go back…. Aren't I?" I asked quietly.

He nodded. "Yeah…. You are… And you probably should go back. So you can protect Kori…."

This time, I was the one that smirked. "But I don't want that, I and I'm positive that you don't either… I _care_ about you, and I'm not leaving without a fight." I said, staring at one of my hands.

His own hand gently rested on it. "I know. I care about you too… but you can't stay in a place that you shouldn't be in…"

"Then I'll make myself stay."

"Heh… you and I really are alike…"

"And that's why we need each other."

He sighed and leaned over me, our faces only inches away. "You need to sleep, Rika."

I smiled. "Who's going to make me?" I said, turning my head and looking up at the ceiling.

Before I could even blink though, instead of the ceiling, I was staring into sea foam green eyes. Riku was on the bed now, leaning over me and smiling. "If you don't be careful, _I_ will." He chuckled, laying down as well, but not going under the covers. [Thankfully…]

He pulled me closer and I blushed, a realization coming to me. "You were planning this all along… weren't you? Ever since I fell in your room…"

"And a little bit before actually. I kind of knew who you were around the first time I heard your voice… You were lost in the darkness, just like I was. And that gave me hope, that I might have someone I can protect. Just like Sora."

"Then now we both have someone to protect…" I said, yawning. I cuddled a little closer to him and shut my eyes. "But fine…. I'll sleep now."

I could feel him smiling. "Good. And don't worry, I'll be here. Xemnas will never touch you again as long as I'm around." He said, but I was already sleeping, and in my sleep, I had no more nightmares.

No more of the dark voices plagued me in my sleep this time. But there was a new fear now… I was afraid of going home.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

I watched quietly as her breathing slowed and she fell asleep. She really was tired, even though she tried to seem that she had plenty of energy.

I yawned, careful not to move until she was deeply asleep, then I carefully moved back to the chair.

I sat there for some time, just watching her, before The King came into her room.

He had a smug grin on his face as he looked at the two of us. "You like her a lot, don't you Riku." He said, a statement rather than a question.

I smiled back, mirroring his expression. "Maybe I do."

"You know…" he said, his smile turning into a frown, "She is going to have to go back to her own world."

I nodded, my smug grin turning sarcastic and sour. "Yeah, I know… But as long as I can have her, I might as well tell her that she's staying." I said, lightly clenching my fist, "I need to hurt her… make her hurt so bad that she'll willingly forget about me. It's the only way to get her home safely."

The King sighed lightly and nodded. "I don't see any other way either… but it will hurt you as well. I hope you realize that." He answered, turning and leaving for his own room, and I now noticed that the Beast was in the hall as well.

"I would say that you deserve the worst…" he muttered, "But what you are planning is noble… if not tragic as well." He then left down another hall, apparently already knowing where his room was.

I chuckled darkly as I shut the door and continued my now silent vigil, watching over her as she peacefully slept; unaware of how much pain she was likely to go through tomorrow when we dropped her and Kori off at their world.

After a few hours I dosed off as well, already feeling the large burden that would be on my shoulders.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

A dark chuckling filled the room as my eyes burst open. I sat up, totally straight and alert, but when I looked around, I saw that Riku was still asleep. It was as if I was the only one who could hear the dark chuckle that seemed to come from every direction… and so, I probably was.

I quietly stood up, my body somehow moving on its own, and I was too tired to argue, so I simply let it. I probably should have warned Riku, I probably should have screamed, probably should have tried to fight the darkness that was taking over my body…. Surprisingly, I'm happy that I didn't.

My body walked swiftly, to the control room and stood facing the screen. A figure was there waiting for me, and I was actually very surprised. My fingers twitched as my body gained control over itself. Before me was someone I had not seen for years…. Someone I had never expected to see again after he left the small village I lived at. "Dad…" I breathed. Then before I could blink, are even wonder if it was a dream, he ran up to hug me.

After a few minutes, we let go of each other again, and we just stood there staring at one another. He looked over my shoulder to the doorway and smiled. "I suppose I should thank you, my small friend." He said.

I turned and took a small step to the side to see King Mickey standing in the doorway, chuckling lightly. "Aw… You don't gotta thank me!" he replied, "I was happy to reunite the two of you." Riku peeked around the corner and grinned lightly.

"I helped a little don't forget… How else would we have even known?" he said, stepping out of his spot behind the corner, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "If it wasn't for her letting her memories float around in the darkness that once, he'd probably still be in wonderland!"

I gave everyone a blank stare. "… Huh? Wonderland? You mean that weird book with the rabbit and the giant watch?!" I asked, "He was THERE?! I've only read that book like….. half a time… but that's beside the point!" I added, turning to my father. "You could've called…. You had your cell phone with you…" I murmured.

He gave a light chuckle, and I heard Riku cracking up in the background. "Heh… no bars in the rabbit hole; what can you do?"

Riku's laughing grew a bit louder and he came up behind me, patting me on the head. "OH! So the sarcasm is hereditary!" he said.

And what can I say? I tackled him. All my dad could do was stand there and laugh at us beating each other up, and the King simply sighed and messed with the computer controls.

That was when everything cherry-bombed into hell.

The maniacal laughing, you know, the thing I'd thought I was just imagining until then, suddenly grew louder and then I could tell that all four of us heard it. A giant -and I mean this sucker was HUGE- black shadow thing started growing in the middle of the control room.

Riku, the hero that he was, already had his keyblade drawn and was glaring at it while holding my hand. "That's really nice Riku." I said, drawing my own weapon, "Point the giant house key at it, it'll crawl away screaming."

He grinned at me. "Yeah, all we need now is a Keychain to hold the house keys… They'll REALLY be scared then!" he answered.

I looked around me quickly to see what my dad and His Majesty were doing, and then I realized I was probably better off not knowing. Because that was probably what started the horrible chain of events that led to the pitiful thing I was at the end of our journey.

Kori was about to plunge his sword through my father's heart.

"NOO!" I half yelled, half screamed at him as I broke into a run. I threw myself into Kori to keep him from getting my dad, who was busy with his own issues. He was standing there like a Kung Fu Master with some kinda scythe, flinging away heartless like he'd done it his whole life… and for all I knew, he might have. But I'd probably remember it better at some other point, because right now I was about to be slaughtered by my first crush. "Kori! What in the HELL are you doing?!" I asked, pinning his Keyblade to the ground, and wondering where he'd gotten it in the first place.

But he was totally unresponsive to me, he didn't even blink. Turned out he was strong though, because the next thing I knew, I was a foot in the air choking from his grip on my neck. Riku was quickly at my rescue though, and had him pinned to the wall, taking his keyblade out of his hands.

I heard the King yell some sort of warning, but it was already too late. Riku already had a grip on the blades handle, and his knees quickly buckled and his own keyblade disappeared. I stared in horror as 'Kori' suddenly transformed into Xemnas, a horrible grin on his face, staring down at Riku, who was slowly being engulfed by darkness.

"XEMNAS!!!" I screamed, lunging at him. Sadly, I never made it all the way there. Riku, who was now in a totally different outfit, was standing in front of me, firmly gripping both of my wrists. I stared at his dark, empty eyes, and I knew that he was beyond taken over. Xemnas was probably turning his brain to mush at this point, and that just made me more pissed. "Riku please…" I mumbled, "Wake up."

His eyes flickered a minute, but it didn't seem to do much… although….. I did all I could not to show any emotion when he winked at me. I pretended to keep struggling; I really wasn't that bad an actress. "Riku! Let me go! You have to fight it!" I said, making sure I put plenty of feeling into it to make the whole thing believable.

Xemnas chuckled darkly. At least he was buying it, right? "Don't worry…" he said, patting Riku's head. "I'm not hurting him, in fact, you'll both be right next door when I take you home…" He said, he probably might have said more, but it's kind of hard to talk much with two Keyblades and a scythe wedged into your back. I mean, OUCH, right?

He didn't topple over or anything, didn't even say 'Ow'. Instead, he turned and looked at us with a 'Hmmm' and poofed. Yep, one of those weird things where you stand there wondering if he was going to come up behind you and attack. But he was gone right then, so I was partially content…. But…. "Riku.." I said, touching his cheek. Dad, who had supplied the scythe, had reclaimed it from the spot where Xemnas poofed and was running over to help Mickey, who was still fighting heartless.

Riku's stare was still blank and dark, but I could feel him gaining control again. I hugged myself close to him, figuring something embarrassing would probably trigger his easy return, but I guess it only works that fast in video games and fanficts. It seemed like I was hugging him forever, but that might have just been me. After awhile, I felt his arms close in around me, slowly though, as if he wasn't sure about it. But his grip on me quickly tightened and I could hear him take a few, deep, shaky breaths. I looked up to see a pair of sea foam eyes staring at me. I tried backing a way as a blushed, but then he just picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

"H-hey! I demand to be read my rights!!!" I yelled as he began to carry me back.

"Night Your Majesty, night sir." He said, his voice calm as if forcing me into my bedroom after a fight was an everyday occurrence.

"No! HELP!!! He's going to eat me! I DON'T WANT TO SLEEEEP!!!" I yelled down the hall.

Riku chuckled darkly. "What makes you think either of us are sleeping?"

I immediately stopped breathing altogether and he laughed a bit more. "What, you scare easily?" he asked once we were in my room. In one swift movement, he had me off his shoulder, pinned against a wall, and our faces were suddenly inches away from each other. He winked at me and let go, sitting back down.

I yawned lightly and sat on the bed. "Okay… maybe I'm SLIGHTLY tired…" I admitted, poking his arm.

He smiled at me, moving to the bed as well. "Then why not sleep? Not like I'm going to rape you or anything…" he said, poking my waist. And of course, being a girl, I squealed. And of course, this squeal caused him to poke me more times to make me repeatedly squeal. He smiled at me, lightly kissing my forehead. "Yeah, I don't think you're in too much danger at the moment."

"Too much? I don't see ANY danger at the moment." I teased, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

He leaned back though, causing me to fall over ontop of him. And then, in another beautifully swift movement, he had us switched to where he was crouched ontop of me. He gave a quick wink and then I was laying ontop of him, my head resting on his heart while he pulled the covers over us. It was only then did I notice that the light was still on. Apparently Riku noticed too, because he summoned Way to Dawn just over the switch and let it fall gently to the floor, turning off the lights as it went.

We were silent for a moment, I knew it was kinda weird, since we are technically the same person…. But all I really wanted was to stay in that moment forever.

And, as I've already said, All hell was just about to brake loose. And though I didn't know why, but I had this feeling that I might never see him again after this. As if I was having a premonition that Riku and I would never truly see each other ever again after this moment. I almost started to cry from how suddenly this feeling came. And then the laughter came back.

The horrible laughter that rang through my head like a siren. The laughter I had been hearing all along, no matter where we were, no matter how happy, sad, brave, fearful, strong, or weak I was. It was there. The maniacal laughter of Xemnas, breaking quickly and quietly into the depth of my soul. Consuming me, grabbing the pieces of me and molding them into a hideous being of eternal night. "Riku…." I said quietly, knowing I had to warn him, make him understand what was happening to me in what little time we still had together. "Riku… I'm so sorry!" I said, using all my force to push myself away from him. A dark, but still transparent, veil came through and became my vision…. And I knew that I was gone.

I wasn't anywhere near as strong as Riku, and I was positive I wouldn't be able to keep control over my body… but I could at least give him time to run. I felt my body smirking, looking down to watch my pajamas from the previous night turn into a darker sort of outfit. **[See chapter five, cause I'm horrible at explaining clothes. ;D]** My keyblade grew into a menacing thing in my hand, and suddenly, I became my own enemy.

**XxX**

I stared in terror and anguish as she leaped from me and grew into her darker self. A wide smirk was more then plain on her face as her keyblade drew itself. It was quite apparent that Rika wasn't in control of her body. The eyes were pure black, and Xemnas was standing over her like an overgrown shadow.

I was already up, my own weapon drawn and pointed menacingly at the man I hated with every fiber of my being… even though part of me still longed for his presence. I made no attempt at all to call for help, because deep down, it was only really going to end if I battle him by myself. I just had to get rid of Rika first…

But the very thought of harming her in any way made me want to call out in pain! I'd never been the kinda guy who thinks about love, and I surely never really was the type to _long_ for someone with every part of my wretched, dark-filled heart! But Rika….

"Xemnas! What the hell do you want?!" I asked.

He grinned lightly and gave a slight chuckle, the dark Rika mimicking him in every way. "Well Riku…" they answered together, "I need her mostly, but you would be fun to have as well… two new pets for us to experiment on!" he said, drawing out his own weapons in a sweeping motion of his hand, Rika mimicking this as well.

I growled lightly. Knowing from my trip through the freaky castle that if this lead to a fight, I'd need to use both my light AND my darkness. I began to gather both kinds of energy, but kept my main focus on Xemnas. He was the puppet master in this little show. And sadly I was a puppet, just like Rika.

And, as if the very thought called her, Rika fell to her knees, grabbing her head and gasping for air.

Xemnas' figure stiffened as he probably attempted to gain more control over her, but seemed unable to. I couldn't help but grin. She was fighting back! She had to be! But one problem still remained…

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't gather any dark energy inside of me to save my life… and that was bad. I needed to be able to use all my power if I was going to get him away from us and get Rika home… so I'd need to go through some drastic changes, and open my heart to the darkness again.

I reached into my back pocket to pull out the one thing I would most definitely need, a black blindfold. I quickly tied it around my head and allowed my heart to open. I'd need to do this quickly while he was distracted…… '_Riku… what are you doing?'_ asked Rika, her voice ringing inside my head.

We were on the same telepathic level at the moment. Only we were both going into different directions. '_Rika, I'm sorry… this whole thing is probably going to end badly for me. I need to ask you to do something……_' I answered, trying to figure out just how I could possibly explain this to her.

'_Riku? What's the matter? You sound like you're about to die or something….'_ She said back, and I almost felt like she was hugging me through the link, _'No matter what, I'm not going to leave you here to die!'_

'_I'm not asking you to do that! And if any of us had a choice in the matter… I'd never want you to leave me again… but I need you to listen Rika!!! I'll hold him off, and I may look different, but its still me. And I will do anything to protect you! When I grab hold of Xemnas, I want you to run to the others… AS FAST AS YOU CAN! You have to go home, that's the only place to go where you'll be safe from Xemnas!'_

'_NO!!! I'm NOT going to leave you! NO MATTER WHAT!'_

'_UGH!!! Why do we have to be so stubborn?! Its what you have to do! I'm willing to DIE for you Rika!'_

'_But Riku-'_

'_No buts! You HAVE to go! Your father is going to erase your memories so you'll forget all about everything. If you don't, I might not to protect you from the danger!'_

'… _FINE!!! But I SWEAR that when I see you again…' _ she started, '_I'm going to make you wish you were BULLET PROOF!'_

I almost couldn't help but smile. Why when? There was more than good chances that we would never meet again…_ 'That's my girl…' _I murmured, kissing her through the link. She kissed back… and then I opened my eyes in my new body, a body that was almost totally enveloped in darkness.

**XxX**

I opened my eyes slowly, bracing myself… and was almost surprised I didn't scream. He almost looked like a mirror image of Xemnas! But I could feel that it was Riku.

I turned quickly to see Xemnas glaring at me, his strangely inviting golden eyes filled with disgust and hate. "How… can someone filled to the brim with so much darkness… and without the will power to even keep me at bay… FORCE ME OUT OF THERE SMALL AND FEEBLE MIND?!" he thundered, his weapons pointing at me as he quickly thrust down.

Out of instinct, I rolled out of the way and sliced at his hands. Wait, why wasn't I in my pajamas? I looked myself over to find that I was still in a very different outfit. I was quickly up and out of the way as Riku came past and knocked Xemnas.

He turned his head towards me, for what seemed to be the last time. He gave me his weird grin, but then turned serious. "Hurry! You have to leave now! Your dad and Kori are already waiting with the King!"

"B-but-"

"No buts Rika! Please! You need to go now, you said it yourself… 'when' we meet again!!! If you can believe it, I will too!!"

"What a dorky thing to say…" I muttered, getting up, "Okay.. BYE!" I yelled, running and slamming through the door, where a Large Body was already waiting. I smirked at it as I let the door whack the poor thing in the face and ran down the stretch of the hall towards the control room. They were all waiting next to the transporter, just like Riku said.

I gave Mickey a quick hug. "Sir, Riku…"

"I know, don't worry. He'll be just fine."

We nodded at each other as my father quickly ushered us onto the platform. And the last I saw, was Xemnas and Riku sword fighting in the control room, and Riku warning everyone not to help…

**XxX**

**[A few weeks later]**

I yawned lightly as I lay out in the pasture, sheep and goats lazily grazing around me. In the distance, I heard my father talking with some of the other older villagers. He had returned out of the blue while Kori and I had gone off alone in an attempt to find some clues about where he was.

They found me and Kori asleep just outside of village lines. When they had woken us up, all I could do was cry. Sara told me that I wouldn't stop saying 'Riku', though I don't know why I would say that. I'd never met anyone named 'Riku' in my entire life! I quickly sat up. What on earth was I sitting around here for?! In just a few weeks, Sara, Kori, and I were all going hiking to discover new worlds! I quickly stood up and ran for our 'Secret Playground' in my usual clothes: Comfortable dark jeans, and a black and red shirt with a White heart design on the front, and small angel wings on the back just over my shoulder blades.

**~*~**

**[Few weeks later, Riku's side.]**

I walked along the darkly familiar pathway, in searched of the man that was at the beginning of our journey. I had shaken off His Majesty soon after Xemnas disappeared and I got my old body back… but I still knew that something was missing.

I can't remember much of anything from the past few days… I suppose that's a trick my mind has come up with to shield me from something painful. But, the word 'Rika' kept popping into my head… and every time, I felt as if I wanted to rip out my heart. Perhaps it is only a small side affect from using that much darkness? But it wouldn't matter soon… if I ever tried it again, I might never change back. And something told me that Sora would need all of the power I can give him…

I decided to just keep walking, and sure enough, there he stood off in the distance, a smirk on his face and his hand extended to me. "Come, Riku. We will bring Sora back."


	9. MEGA ACTION PLZ READ NOTE!

**OKAY! Just a note, Road To Dawn is going to be getting…. MAJORLY revised. *hearts***

**Rhia did a good job, but there are mistakes and everything, SO I SHALL TAKE MATTERS INTO MY OWN HANDS. (and hope she does not kill me.)**

**I would also be thrilled if our readers from this story would further migrate to FIM (Fading Into Myself) Because it is on a HIATUS. HIATUSHIATUSHIATUS. RAWR. xD NEEEEED REVEIWS.**

**I also hope that everyone moves to a new KH story I am writing. :P**

**I am planning on calling it something to do with a never ending story.. because Kingdom Hearts is one of those thinks that should never be gone. Y'know?! GOT IT MEMORIZED? …………hyuck?**

**Anyway, LATER. Thanks for reading, hope to hear from someone soon. *more hearts***


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